Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T03:00:31.518Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lexical Processing of Ambiguous Words: Dominance or Associative Strength?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Francisco Nievas ,
Fernando Justicia ,
José J. Cañas  and
M. Teresa Bajo
Francisco Nievas*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Almería
Fernando Justicia
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada
José J. Cañas
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada
M. Teresa Bajo
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada
*
Address correspondence to: Francisco Nievas C., Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Universidad de Almería, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería (Spain). Phone: + 34 950 01 53 75. FAX: +34 950 01 50 83. E-mail: fnievas@ual.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Four experiments examined the role of meaning frequency (dominance) and associative strength (measured by associative norms) in the processing of ambiguous words in isolation. Participants made lexical decisions to targets words that were associates of the more frequent (dominant) or less frequent (subordinate) meaning of a homograph prime. The first two experiments investigated the role of associative strength at long SOAs (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony) (750 ms.), showing that meaning is facilitated by the targets' associative strength and not by their dominance. The last two experiments traced the role associative strength at short SOAs (250 ms), showing that the manipulation of the associative strength has no effect in the semantic priming. The conclusions are: on the one hand, semantic priming for homographs is due to associative strength manipulations at long SOAs. On the other hand, the manipulation of the associative strength has no effect when automatic processes (short SOAs) are engaged for homographs.

A través de cuatro experimentos, se examinó el papel de la frecuencia del significado (dominancia) y de la fuerza asociativa (medida mediante normas asociativas) en el procesamiento de palabras ambiguas aisladas. Los participantes tomaron decisiones léxicas acerca de palabras meta que eran las asociadas del significado más frecuente (dominante) o menos frecuente (subordinado) de un homógrafo primo. Los primeros dos experimentos investigaron el papel de la fuerza asociativa en las SOAs (asincronía del comienzo del estímulo) largas (750 ms), demostrando que el significado se ve facilitado por la fuerza asociativa de la meta y no por su dominancia. Los segundos experimentos trazaron el papel de la fuerza asociativa en las SOAs cortas (250 ms), demostrando que la manipulación de la fuerza asociativa no influye en la ceba semántica. Se concluye que: (a) la ceba semántica para homográficos se debe a las manipulaciones de la fuerza asociativa en las SOAs largas y (b) la manipulación de la fuerza asociativa no tiene ningún efecto cuando los procesos automáticos (SOAs cortas) están ocupados para los homógrafos.

Keywords

homographsassociative strengthdominancelexical decision taskSOAautomatic and strategic processeshomógrafosfuerza asociativadominanciatarea de decisión léxicaSOAprocesos automáticos y estratégicos
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , November 2005 , pp. 157 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, J.R. (1976). Language, memory, and thought. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Anderson, J.R. (1983). The architecture of cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Becker, C.A. (1980). Semantic context effects in visual word recognition: An analysis of semantic strategies. Memory and Cognition. 8, 493–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becker, C.A. (1985). What do we really know about semantic context effects during reading? In Besner, D., Waller, T.G., & Mackinnon, E.M. (Eds.), Reading research: Advances in theory and practice, Vol. 5 (pp. 126–166). Toronto: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cañas, J J. (1990). Associative strength effects in the lexical decision task. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 42A, 121–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cañas, J.J., & Bajo, M.T. (1994). Strategic associative priming in the lexical decision task. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 47A, 383–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiarello, C., Burgess, C.Richards, L., & Pollock, A. (1990). Semantic and associative priming in the cerebral hemispheres: Some words do, some words don't… sometimes, some places. Brain and Language, 38, 75–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collins, A.M., & Loftus, E.F. (1975). A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing. Psychological Review, 82, 407–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, A.M., & Quillian, M.R. (1969). Retrieval time from semantic memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 8, 240–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conrad, C. (1974). Context effects in sentence comprehension: A study of the subjective lexicon. Memory and Cognition, 2, 130–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coolen, R., Jaarsveld, H.J., & Schreuder, R. (1993). Processing novel compounds: Evidence for interactive meaning activation of ambiguous nouns. Memory and Cognition, 21, 235–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Groot, A.M.B., Thomassen, A.J.W.M., & Hudson, P.T.W. (1982). Associative facilitation of word recognition as measured from a neutral prime. Memory and Cognition, 10, 358–370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dlhopolsky, J.G. (1989). Synchronizing stimulus displays with millisecond timer software for the IBM PC. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers. 21, 4, 441–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischler, I. (1977). Semantic facilitation without association in a lexical decision task. Memory and Cognition, 5, 335–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frost, R., & Bentin, S. (1992). Processing phonological and semantic ambiguity: Evidence from semantics priming at different SOAs. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 18, 58–68.Google ScholarPubMed
Glucksberg, S., Kreuz, R.J., & Rho, S.H. (1986). Context can constrain lexical access: Implications for models of language comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 12, 323–335.Google Scholar
Gordon, B. (1985). Subjective frequency and the lexical decision latency function: Implications for mechanisms of lexical access. Journal of Memory and Language, 24, 631–645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holley-Wilcox, P., & Blank, M.A. (1980). Evidence for multiple access in the processing of isolated words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 6, 75–84.Google Scholar
Kinoshita, S. (1985). Sentence context effects on lexically ambiguous words: Evidence for a post access inhibition process. Memory and Cognition, 13, 579–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintsch, W., & Mross, E.F. (1985). Context effects in word identification. Journal of Memory and Language, 24, 336–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Love, T., & Swinney, D. (1996). Coreference processing and levels of analysis in object-relative constructions: Demonstration of antecedent reactivation with the cross-modal priming paradigm. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 25, 5–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lucas, M.M. (1987). Frequency effects of the processing of ambiguous words in sentence context. Language and Speech, 30, 25–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupker, S.J. (1984). Semantic priming without association: A second look. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 709–733.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackay, D.G. (1987). The organization of perception and action: A theory for language and other cognitive skills. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKay, D.G. (1990). Perception, action and awareness: A three-body problem. In Newmann, O. & Prinz, W. (Eds.), Relationships between perception and action (pp 269–304). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClelland, J.L., & Rumelhart, D.E. (1981). An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: 1. An account of basic findings. Psychological Review, 88, 375–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neely, J.H. (1977). Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Roles of inhibitionless spreading activation and limited-capacity attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 106, 226–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neely, J.H. (1991). Semantic priming effects in visual word recognition: A selective review of current findings and theories. In Besner, D. & Humphreys, G.W. (Eds.), Basic processes in reading, visual word recognition (pp. 264–336). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nievas, F., & Cañas, J.J. (1993). Asociados de una base de homógrafos. Psicológica, 14, 269–279.Google Scholar
Nievas, F., & Justicia, F. (2003). Development of memory structures for homographs using Pathfinder network representations. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 6, 12–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nievas, F., & Justicia, F. (2004). A cross-sectional study about meaning access processes for homographs. Cognitive Development, 19, 95–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nievas, F., & Marí-Beffa, P. (2002). Negative priming from the non-selected meaning of the homograph. British Journal of Psychology, 93, 47–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Onifer, W., & Swinney, D. A. (1981). Accessing lexical ambiguities during sentence comprehension: Effects of frequency of meaning and contextual bias. Memory and Cognition, 9, 225–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, S.T., Kellas, G., Martin, M., & Clark, M.B. (1992). The influence of contextual features on the activation of ambiguous word meanings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 18, 703–717.Google ScholarPubMed
Perea, M., & Rosa, E. (2002). The effects of associative and semantic priming in the lexical decision task. Psychological Research, 66, 180–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Posner, M.I., & Snyder, C.R.R. (1975). Attention and cognitive control. In Solso, R.L. (Ed.), Information processing and cognition: The Loyola Symposium. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Schvaneveldt, R.W., Meyer, D.E., & Becker, C.A. (1976). Lexical ambiguity, semantic context and visual word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 2, 243–256.Google ScholarPubMed
Seidenberg, M.S., Tanenhaus, M.K., Leiman, J.M., & Bienkowski, M. (1982). Automatic access of the meanings of ambiguous words in context: Some limitations of knowledge-based processing. Cognitive Psychology, 14, 489–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, G.B. (1981). Meaning dominance and semantic context in the processing of lexical ambiguity. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20, 120–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, G.B., & Burgess, C. (1985). Activation and selection processes in the recognition of ambiguous words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 22, 147–154.Google Scholar
Simpson, G.B., & Foster, M.R. (1986). Lexical ambiguity and children's word recognition. Developmental Psychology, 22, 147–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, G.B., & Krueger, M.A. (1991). Selective access of homograph meanings in sentence context. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 627–643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, G.B., Krueger, M.A.Kang, H., & Elofson, A.C. (1994). Sentence context and meaning frequency effects in children's processing of ambiguous words. Journal of Research in Reading, 17, 62–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swinney, D.A. (1979). Lexical Access during sentence comprehension: (Re)consideration of context effects. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 645–659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabossi, P. (1988). Accessing lexical ambiguity in different types of sentential context. Journal of Memory and Language, 27, 324–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanenhaus, M.K., Leiman, J.M., & Seidenberg, M.S. (1979). Evidence for multiple stages in the processing of ambiguous words in syntactic contexts. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 427–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Petten, C., & Kutas, M. (1987). Ambiguous words in context: An event-related potential analysis of the time course of meaning activation. Journal of Memory and Language, 26, 188–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar