INHIBITION OF NAMING BY RHYMING PRIMES

The priming effects of graphemically similar (e.g., HOSE) and graphemi cally dissimilar (e.g., Rows) rhymes on the naming of target words (NO SE) were examined at prime-target stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) of 36, 70, and 250 msec A four-field presentation procedure was used of mask-prime-mask-target. The effects of rhyme primes were measured rela tive to those of nonrhyming control primes (CHEF, DISH) that matched t he rhymes in frequency and length and shared no letters in the same po sitions. At SOAs of 36 and 70 msec, rhyme priming was inhibitory and e qual for graphemically similar and graphemically dissimilar rhymes. At SOA = 250 msec, rhyme priming was insignificant with a tendency towar d facilitation. The results are discussed in the context of (1) contra sting effects of complete versus partial phonological overlap within a prime-target pair, and (2) the hypothesis that phonological codes sta bilize fastest and provide, therefore, the earliest and major constrai nt on word recognition.