Abstract
Predictions derived from the interactive activation (IA) model were tested in 3 experiments using the masked priming technique in the lexical decision task. Experiment 1 showed a strong effect of prime lexicality: Classifications of target words were facilitated by orthographically related nonword primes (relative to unrelated nonword primes) but were inhibited by orthographically related word primes (relative to unrelated word primes). Experiment 2 confirmed IA's prediction that inhibitory priming effects are greater when the prime and target share a neighbor. Experiment 3 showed a minimal effect of target word neighborhood size (N) on inhibitory priming but a trend toward greater inhibition when nonword foils were high-N than when they were low-N. Simulations of 3 different versions of the IA model showed that the best fit to the data is produced when lexical inhibition is selective and when masking leads to reset of letter activities.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 668-687 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2006 |
Keywords
- Inhibition
- Interactive activation
- Lexical decision
- Masked priming
- Visual word recognition