Haskins Publications

Number	787
Year	1992
Drawer	14
Entry Date	11/05/1999
Authors	Frost, R., & Bentin, S.
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Publication	Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18(1), 58-68.
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0787.pdf
Abstract	Disambiguation of heterophonic and homophonic homographs was investigated in Hebrew using semantic priming. Ambiguous primes were followed by unambiguous targets at 100 msec, 250 msec, and 750 msec stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). Lexical decision for targets related to the dominant phonological alternatives of heterophonic homographs was facilitated at all SOAs. Targets related to subordinate alternatives were facilitated only at SOAs of 250 msec or longer. When the primes were homophonic homographs, semantic relationship facilitated lexical decision to targets at all SOAs regardless of the dominance of the meaning to which the targets were related. These data can be accounted for by assuming multiple lexical entries for heterophonic homographs, single lexical entries for homophonic homographs, and phonological mediation of accessing meanings. Language-specific factors probably account for the long-lasting activation of subordinate meanings.
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