ACCESSING DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEXICAL SEMANTIC INFORMATION - EVIDENCE FROM PRIMING

The types of semantic information that are automatically retrieved fro m the mental lexicon on hearing a word were investigated in 3 semantic priming experiments. The authors probed for activation of information about a word's category membership by using prime-target pairs that w ere members of a common semantic category (e.g., pig-horse) and 2 type s of functional semantic properties: instrument relations (e.g., broom -floor) and script relations (e.g., restaurant-wine). The authors cros sed type of semantic relation between prime and target with degree of normative association strength. In a paired and a single-word presenta tion version of an auditory lexical-decision priming task, the authors found significant priming for category and functionally related targe ts, both with and without an additional associative relation. In all c ases there was a significant associative boost. However, in a visual v ersion of the single-word lexical-decision paradigm, a different patte rn of results was found for each type of semantic relation. Category c oordinates primed only when they were normatively associated, instrume nt relations primed both with and without association, and script rela tions primed in neither condition.