Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that two-word lexical decision times may be influenced by the degree of shared phonemic and graphemic similarity between the items. Specifically, graphemically similar rhyming pairs (e.g., BRIBE-TRIBE) are responded to more rapidly than graphemically and phonemically unrelated controls (e.g., BREAK-DITCH), whereas graphemically similar nonrhyming pairs (TOUCH-COUCH) are responded to more slowly. In a series of three experiments, the present study examined the encoding-bias explanation (Meyer, Schvaneveldt, & Ruddy, 1974) of these effects by modifying or eliminating the graphemic information available. Experiment 1 found that rhyming facilitation was not eliminated by presenting the initial pair member auditorily. Experiments 2 and 3 showed the rhyming effect to be independent of graphemic similarity with equivalent facilitation for graphemically similar and dissimilar (EIGHT-MATE) rhymes. These findings were all considered contrary to the predictions of the encoding-bias model. As an alternative, a model by Forster (1976) was employed. In the Forster model, sensory representations of lexical entries are represented as entries in a separate access file organized by physical, rather than semantic, similarity. The rhyming facilitation can then be seen as the result of spreading activation between entries in this file.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Reference Note
McCusker, L. X., Holley-Wilcox, P., & Hillinger, M. L.Frequency effects in auditory and visual word recognition. Paper presented at the meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, San Antonio, 1979.
References
Bradshaw, J. L., &Nettleton, N. C. Articulatory interference and themown-down heterophone effect.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1974,102, 88–94.
Clark, H. H. The language as fixed effect fallacy: A critique of language statistics in psychological research.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1973,12, 335–359.
Fischler, I. Associative facilitation without expectancy in a lexical decision task.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1977,3, 18–26.
Forster, K. I. Accessing the mental lexicon. In R. J. Walker & F. Wales,New approaches to language mechanisms. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1976.
Hillinger, M. L. Comprehension by eye and ear: An analysis of modality effects in word recognition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, 1978.
Holofcener, L.A practical dictionary of rhymes. New York: Crown, 1960.
Kirsner, K., &Smith, M. C. Modality effects in word recognition.Memory & Cognition, 1974,2, 637–640.
Meyer, D. E., &Schvaneveldt, R. W. Facilitation in recognizing pairs of words: Evidence of a dependence between retrieval operations.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1971,90, 227–234.
Meyer, D. E., Schvaneveldt, R. W., &Ruddy, M. G. Functions of graphemic and phonemic codes in visual word recognition.Memory & Cognition, 1974,2, 309–321.
Morton, J. Interaction of information in word recognition.Psychological Review, 1969,76, 165–178.
Neely, J. H. Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Evidence for facilitatory and inhibitory processes.Memory & Cognition, 1976,4, 648–654.
Neely, J. H. Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Roles of inhibitionless spreading activation and limited capacity attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 1977,106, 226–254.
Scarborough, D. L., Cortese, C., &Scarborough, H. S. Frequency and repetition effects in lexical memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human perception and performance, 1977,3, 1–17.
Schvaneveldt, R. W., &Meyer, D. E. Retrieval and comparison processes in semantic memory. In S. Kornblum (Ed.),Attention and performance IV. New York: Academic Press, 1973.
Seidenberg, M. B., &Tannenhaus, M. K. Orthographic effects on rhyme monitoring.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 1979,5, 546–554.
Shulman, H. G., Hornak, R., &Sanders, E. The effect of graphemic, phonetic, and semantic relationships on access to lexical structures.Memory & Cognition, 1978,6, 115–123.
Swinney, D. A., Onifer, W., Prather, P., &Hirshkowitz M. Semantic facilitation across sensory modalities in the processing of individual words and sentences.Memory & Cognition, 1979,7, 159–165.
Winer, B. J.Statistical principles in experimental design. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Portions of this paper are based on a thesis submitted to Rutgers University in partial fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hillinger, M.L. Priming effects with phonemically similar words:. Mem Cogn 8, 115–123 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213414
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213414