Picture naming studies have shown that alternative picture names become phonologically coactivated even when they are eventually not produced (e.g., dog when poodle is produced and vice versa). The authors investigated whether this pattern is shaped by recent experience. Specifically, they tested whether the phonological coactivation of an alternative name is attenuated, when speakers consistently only use one particular name in a large number of naming episodes. In 3 picture-word interference experiments, the authors measured the phonological coactivation of basic-level alternative names during subordinate-level naming (Experiments 1 and 3) and of subordinate-level alternative names during basic-level naming (Experiment 2). They measured the coactivation of the alternative name at different points in time with distractor words that were phonologically related or unrelated to that name. If the pattern of lexical activation is shaped by previous naming episodes and the phonological coactivation of the nonproduced alternative name decreases, interference from related distractors should be reduced in the course of the experiment. Contrary to this prediction, the interference effect from distractors phonologically related to the alternative name remained stable. This was also true when participants were not familiarized with the pictures, more naming episodes were implemented, and a consolidation phase was introduced (Experiment 3). Overall, these results indicate some limitation of incremental learning in word production. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

There is compelling evidence that context strongly influences our choice of words (e.g., whether we refer to a particular animal with the basic-level name "bird" or the subordinate-level name "duck"). However, little is known about whether the context already affects the degree to which the alternative words are activated. In this study, we explored the effect of a preceding linguistic context on the phonological activation of alternative picture names. In Experiments 1 to 3, the context was established by a request produced by an imaginary interlocutor. These requests either constrained the naming response to the subordinate level on pragmatic grounds (e.g., "name the bird!") or not (e.g., "name the object!"). In Experiment 4, the context was established by the speaker's own previous naming response. Participants named the pictures with their subordinate-level names and the phonological activation of the basic-level names was assessed with distractor words phonologically related versus unrelated to that name (e.g., "birch" vs. "lamp"). In all experiments, we consistently found that distractor words phonologically related to the basic-level name interfered with the naming response more strongly than unrelated distractor words. Moreover, this effect was of comparable size for nonconstraining and constraining contexts indicating that the alternative name was phonologically activated and competed for selection, even when it was not an appropriate lexical option. Our results suggest that the speech production system is limited in its ability of flexibly adjusting and fine-tuning the lexical activation patterns of words (among which to choose from) as a function of pragmatic constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record

We investigated whether the phonological co-activation of alternative names in picture naming (e.g. "fish" for target "shark") is reduced by contextual constraints which render them inappropriate. In the constraining context, the target naming response was preceded by a naming response to an object from the same category (e.g., an eel) which remained visible during target naming. Therefore, use of the alternative target name "fish" would result (a) in an ambiguous response because of the visual context and (b) in a pragmatically odd response because of the previous naming response. In Experiment 1 the context pictures were named by the participants themselves and in Experiment 2 by a communication partner. In both experiments, interference from distractor words phonologically related ("finger") versus unrelated ("book") to the alternative name was observed regardless of context. This finding indicates limited flexibility in lexical activation during speech planning.

We investigated whether the phonological co-activation of alternative names in picture naming (e.g. "fish" for target "shark") is reduced by contextual constraints which render them inappropriate. In the constraining context, the target naming response was preceded by a naming response to an object from the same category (e.g., an eel) which remained visible during target naming. Therefore, use of the alternative target name "fish" would result (a) in an ambiguous response because of the visual context and (b) in a pragmatically odd response because of the previous naming response. In Experiment 1 the context pictures were named by the participants themselves and in Experiment 2 by a communication partner. In both experiments, interference from distractor words phonologically related ("finger") versus unrelated ("book") to the alternative name was observed regardless of context. This finding indicates limited flexibility in lexical activation during speech planning.