Effects of semantic context in the naming of pictures and words

Two experiments investigated whether lexical retrieval for speaking can be characterized as a competitive process by assessing the effects of semantic context on picture and word naming in German. In Experiment 1 we demonstra ted that pictures are named slower in the context of same-category items th an in the context of items from various semantic categories, replicating fi ndings by Kroll and Stewart (Journal of Memory and Language, 33 (1994) 149) . In Experiment 2 we used words instead of pictures. Participants either na med the words in the context of same- or different-category items, or produ ced the words together with their corresponding determiner. While in the fo rmer condition words were named faster in the context of same-category item s than of different-category items, the opposite pattern was obtained for t he latter condition. These findings confirm. the claim that the interfering effect of semantic context reflects competition in the retrieval of lexica l entries in speaking. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.