SEMANTIC INTERFERENCE, ORTHOGRAPHIC FACILITATION, AND THEIR INTERACTION IN NAMING TASKS

The relative merits of 3 views on the cause of the Stroop-like semanti c interference effect in naming tasks were investigated in 2 experimen ts. In the Ist experiment, which consisted of a picture-word interfere nce task, the authors found the usual Stroop-like semantic interferenc e effect for distracter words that were not orthographically related t o the picture's name. However, the semantic interference effect was si gnificantly reduced when the distracter words were orthographically re lated to the picture's name. The results were replicated in the 2nd ex periment by using a different paradigm in which, instead of pictures, definitions were used as target stimuli. The results are interpreted a s favoring one of the views: a word-form retrieval account of the sema ntic interference effect in naming tasks.