Abstract
The resolution of lexical ambiguity was studied in two experiments. While subsequent selection would appear to limit longer term storage to one meaning of an ambiguous word, multiple initial encoding of homophones and homographs was indicated by the intrusion of their alternative meanings across trials in a Brown-Peterson paradigm. In Experiment 1 subjects heard four words and then engaged in a 10osec distractor task. Written recall was then demanded. On context trials a homophone with two distinct alternative meanings was presented with other words biasing either a dominant or subordinate meaning, for example, look, stare,peer, glance. On the next trial words related to an alternative meaning were presented, for example, dock, wharf, quay, jetty. Intrusions of the graphic forms of alternative meanings le.g.,PIER) into critical trial recall occurred whether the dominant or subordinate meaning of the homophone had been biased by context. Experiment 2 employed visual presentation of homographs, for example, GOLD, IRON,LEAD, and oral recall, but was logically similar to Experiment 1. Intrusions of the alternative codings of homographs across trials again occurred, for example, GUIDE, DIRECT,lead, regardless of the meaning originally biased by context.
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Meyer, D. E., Schvaneveldt, R. W., & Ruddy, M. G.Activation of lexical memory. Paper presented at the meeting of the Psychonomic Society, St. Louis, Missouri, November 1972.
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Some of the data from Experiment. I were reported at the meeting of the Psychonomic Society, St. Louis, Missouri, November 1976.
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Warren, R.E., Warren, N.T., Green, J.P. et al. Multiple semantic encoding of homophones and homographs in contexts biasing dominant or subordinate meanings. Memory & Cognition 6, 364–371 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197467
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197467