Abstract
Two experiments examined whether the speed of activating different aspects of a word's meaning influences the time course of accessing phonology and meaning. The authors used a backward masking paradigm with Chinese materials. When targets were exposed at threshold + 14 ms, homophonic masks were observed to facilitate target identification. Semantic masks in the absence of associative relatedness to targets did not affect recognition, irrespective of target semantic vagueness. Associate masks facilitated the recognition of semantically precise but not vague targets. These findings suggest that phonological activation precedes semantic activation and the activation of associative relatedness of vague-semantic characters. The authors argue that phonological codes are accessed through a character-as-a-whole-to-sound-as-a-whole association.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 865-882 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 1996 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Linguistics and Language