Investigating the influence of semantic factors on word retrieval: reservations, results and recommendations

There is consensus that word retrieval starts with activation of semantic representations. However, in adults without language impairment, relatively little attention has been paid to the effects of the semantic attributes of to-be-retrieved words. This paper, therefore, addresses the question of which item-inherent semantic factors influence word retrieval. Specifically, it reviews the literature on a selection of these factors: imageability, concreteness, number of semantic features, typicality, intercorrelational density, featural distinctiveness, concept distinctiveness, animacy, semantic neighbourhood density, semantic similarity, operativity, valence, and arousal. It highlights several methodological challenges in this field, and has a focus on the insights from studies with people with aphasia where the effects of these variables are more prevalent. The paper concludes that further research simultaneously examining the effects of different semantic factors that are likely to affect lexical co-activation, and the interaction of these variables, would be fruitful, as would suitably scaled computational modelling of these effects in unimpaired language processing and in language impairment. Such research would enable the refinement of theories of semantic processing and word production, and potentially have implications for diagnosis and treatment of semantic and lexical impairments.