Semantic priming: on the role of awareness in visual word recognition in the absence of an expectancy.

Full Abstract

By hypothesis, awareness is involved in the modulation of feedback from semantics to the lexical level in the visual word recognition system. When subjects are aware of the fact that there are many related prime-target pairs in a semantic priming experiment, this knowledge is used to configure the system to feed activation back from semantics to the lexical level so as to facilitate processing. When subjects are unaware of this fact, the default set is maintained in which activation is not fed back from semantics to the lexical level so as to conserve limited resources. Qualitative differences in the pattern of data from two lexical decision experiments that employ masked priming are consistent with this hypothesis. Semantic context and stimulus quality interact when the prime is processed with awareness whereas these same two factors produce additive effects on RT when the prime is unlikely to have been processed with awareness. These experiments thus illustrate one way in which awareness (or lack thereof) affects the dynamics of visual word recognition.

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Author information

Author/s: Brown, Matthew (M); Besner, Derek (D);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ont, Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1. dbesner@watarts.uwaterloo.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Consciousness and cognition (Conscious Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Sep; vol 11 (issue 3) : pp 402-22

Dates: Created 2002/11/18; Completed 2003/04/01; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12435376, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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