SOURCES OF DISAGREEMENT IN OBJECT NAMING

Two experiments examined the processing of objects with low name agree ment. Experiment 1 compared naming latencies for objects with three di fferent types of name disagreement to those for matched control object s with very high name agreement, Objects with low name agreement due t o abbreviations (e.g. phone) were named no more slowly than were contr ol objects. Objects with multiple names (e.g. couch, sofa, settee) and objects often given incorrect names (e.g. spider for ant) took longer to name correctly than did matched controls. These results were confi rmed in a second naming experiment using a revised set of high-name-ag reement control stimuli. In Experiment 2, subjects carried out an obje ct decision task using the revised stimulus set. Subjects could recogn ize objects with multiple names as quickly as those with high name agr eement. Objects often given incorrect names were recognized by subject s more slowly than were high-agreement matched stimuli. The pattern of data suggests that the delay in naming latency due to the availabilit y of more than one correct name arises after structural recognition. I n contrast, the slowed naming of objects often misnamed would seem to originate from difficulties encountered at or before the structural st age of recognition.