Abstract
Two experiments examined larger and smaller judgments of animal and object word pairs. In the pilot experiment, we used the standard tachistoscopic paradigm; in the second experiment, we employed a modified pencil-and-paper version. Congruity effects (i.e., comparative × relative magnitude interactions) were consistently larger with animal than with object stimuli across subjects ranging from second graders to university students. These results support a semantic priming interpretation of the congruity effect and emphasize the need to consider the retrieval component as well as the comparison stage in symbolic judgments.
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This research was facilitated by a grant. to Marc Marschark from the Research Council of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Grant AOO87 to Allan Paivio from The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of ’Canada.
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Marschark, M., Azmitia, M. & Paivio, A. Associative priming in symbolic comparisons by adults and children. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 23, 459–461 (1985). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329852
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329852