Phonological priming effects on speech onset latencies and viewing times in object naming

An earlier experiment (Meyer, Sleiderink, & Levelt, 1998) had shown that sp eakers naming object pairs usually inspected the objects in the required or der of mention (left object first) and that the viewing time for the left o bject depended on the word frequency of its name. In the present experiment , object pairs were presented simultaneously with auditory distracter words that could be phonologically related or unrelated to the name of the objec t to be named first. The speech onset latencies and the viewing times for t hat object were shorter after related distracters than after unrelated dist racters. Since this phonological priming effect, Like the word frequency ef fect, most likely arises during word-form retrieval, we conclude that the s hift of gaze from the first to the second object is initiated after the wor d form of the first object's name has been accessed.