Automatic priming effects for new associations in lexical decision and perceptual identification

Information storage in semantic memory was investigated by looking at autom atic priming effects for new associations in two experiments. In the study phase, word pairs were presented in a paired-associate learning task. Lexic al decision and perceptual identification were used to examine priming effe cts during and after the study phase. There was automatic priming for new a ssociations. The priming effect was greatly reduced when different semantic tasks were used at study and test compared to when identical tasks were us ed at study and test. The results show that new associations in semantic me mory can be accessed automatically but are still context dependent. This su ggests that rather than being abstract and static, retrieval from semantic memory interacts dynamically with the context.