Age of acquisition, word frequency, and the locus of repetition priming ofpicture naming

We examined the roles of age of acquisition (AoA) and word frequency in pic ture naming latencies and studied repetition priming to illuminate the locu s and mechanism by which the effective variable has its effect. Experiment 1 found that AoA affected naming latencies when frequency was controlled, a nd Experiment 2 found that frequency had no effect when AoA was controlled. Experiment 3 found no effects of either AoA or frequency in delayed pictur e naming. Picture naming was facilitated by the Drier naming of identical p ictures and, to a lesser extent, by the prior reading aloud of the names. R epetition priming interacted with AoA but did not interact with frequency. We conclude that both AoA and long-lasting repetition priming operate at th e level of lexical-phonological retrieval and that repetition interacts wit h AoA because it facilitates the retrieval of lexical-phonological elements required for naming, which benefits late-acquired words differentially. (C ) 2001 Academic Press.