Processing lexical ambiguities in word triplets: Evidence of lexical-semantic deficits following dominant nonthalamic subcortical lesions

Lexical-semantic function was investigated in 10 participants with lesions of the dominant nonthalamic subcortical (NS) region and a matched normal co ntrol group. Participants performed speeded lexical decisions on the 3rd me mber of auditorily presented word triplets. The 4 critical triplet conditio ns were concordant (coin-bank-money), discordant (riverbank-money), neutral (day-bank-money), and unrelated (river-day-money). When the interstimulus interval (ISI) between the words in the triplets was 100 ms, patients with NS lesions obtained priming that indicated nonselective lexical access; at 1,250-ms ISI, however, there was no significant priming effect. This patter n of results is consistent with the view that patients with NS lesions can automatically access lexical-semantic information but may be unable to sust ain lexical activation through controlled or attentional forms of processin g.