Masked priming of words and nonwords in a naming task: Further evidence for a nonlexical basis for priming

Masked priming effects in word identification tasks such as lexical decisio n and word naming have been attributed to a lexical mechanism whereby the m asked prime opens a lexical entry corresponding to the target word. Two exp eriments are reported in which masked repetition priming effects of similar magnitude were obtained with word and nonword targets in a naming task. Ma sked orthographic priming was more stable for word than for nonword targets , although morphological primes produced no advantage beyond that achieved by matched orthographic primes. These results, taken together with the rece nt finding that repetition priming of nonwords can be obtained in the lexic al decision task, support the view that masked priming of words and nonword s has a nonlexical component. We suggest that masked primes can enhance tar get identification by contributing to the construction of an orthographic o r a phonological representation of the target, regardless of the target's l exical status.