STRATEGIC RELIANCE ON PHONOLOGICAL MEDIATION IN LEXICAL ACCESS

The present study investigated strategic variation in reliance on phon ological mediation in visual word recognition. In Experiment 1, semant ically related or unrelated word primes preceded word, pseudohomophone (e.g., trane), or nonpseudohomophone (e.g., trank) targets in a lexic al decision task. Semantic priming effects were found for words, and r esponse latencies to pseudohomophones were longer in related than in u nrelated prime conditions. In Experiment 2, related or unrelated word primes preceded word or pseudohomophone targets. A relatedness effect was found for words, although it was significant at a 600-msec prime-t arget stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) and not at a 200-msec SOA. There was no relatedness effect for pseudohomophones. Experiment 3 was a re plication of Experiment 2, except that pseudohomophones were replaced by nonpseudohomophonic orthographic controls. Facilitation effects for related target words were greater in Experiment 3 than in Experiment 2. The results reflect apparent variations in the expectation that a r elated prime reliably indicates that a target is a word. Although reli ance on phonological mediation might be strategically contingent, ther e could be a brief time period in which phonologically mediated lexica l access occurs automatically. Whether phonological information is mai ntained or suppressed subsequently depends on its overall usefulness f or the task.