Attended and unattended semantic priming as a function of the orienting task performed on an attended prime.

Automatic processes in lexical access and spreading activation.

“…The present results contribute to the literature concerning the effects of prime processing on semantic priming effects in several respects. Previous work has shown that when a non-lexical task is performed on the prime word, facilitation of a semantically related target word is reduced or eliminated (Henik et al, 1983; Hoffman & McMillan, 1985; Margolin, 1983; Parkin, 1979; Smith, 1979; Smith et al, 1983). The prime processing manipulation was shown here to have differential effects on identity and semantic priming (Experiments 1 and 3).…”

“…Semantic priming effects are consistently found when the prime word requires no response (e.g., Margolin, 1983; Neely, 1977; Smith et al, 1983); when it is read aloud (e.g., Henik et al, 1983); when a lexical decision is made on the prime word (Fischler, 1977; Tweedy et al, 1977); when a syntactic judgment (noun/non-noun) is required (Margolin, 1983); or when a semantic judgment such as pleasant/unpleasant or living/nonliving (Parkin, 1979; Smith et al, 1983) is required. However, the normally robust semantic priming effect is not found when the area surrounding the prime is searched for a visual probe (Hoffman & MacMillan, 1985; Smith et al, 1983); when the prime word is searched for a specific letter (Henik et al, 1983, Henik, Tzelgov, Friedrich, & Tramer, 1989; Smith et al, 1983); or when the number of syllables (Friedrich, Kellogg, & Henik, 1982; Parkin, 1979) or letters (Margolin, 1983) in the prime word is judged. Moreover, the prime task effect has also been demonstrated when the target task involves letter search (e.g., Smith, 1979) or naming the ink color of the target word (Henik et al, 1983; Parkin, 1979), and for Hebrew as well as English stimulus materials (Henik, Tzelgov, Friedrich, & Tramer, 1989).…”

Levels of representation in visual word recognition: A dissociation between morphological and semantic processing.

“…More recently, this account of word recognition has been challenged by demonstrations that the context in which the prime item is processed is important in determining its effects on the target (e.g., Besner, Smith, & MacLeod, 1990; Besner & Stolz, 1995; Besner, Stolz, & Boutilier, 1997; Chiappe, Smith, & Besner, 1996; Friedrich, Henik, & Tzelgov, 1991; Friedrich, Kellogg, & Henik, 1982; Henik, Friedrich, & Kellogg, 1983; Henik, Friedrich, Tzelgov, & Tramer, 1994; Hoffman & MacMillan, 1985; Kaye & Brown, 1985; Margolin, 1983; Parkin, 1979; Smith, 1979; Smith, Besner, & Miyoshi, 1994; Smith, Theodor, & Franklin, 1983; Snow & Neely, 1987; Stolz & Besner, 1996, 1997). For example, the normally robust semantic priming effect in lexical decision can be drastically reduced 2 by asking participants to search the prime word for a particular letter before they respond to the target stimulus (e.g., Friedrich et al, 1991; Henik et al., 1983, 1994; Smith et al, 1983; Stolz & Besner, 1996).…”

Role of set in visual word recognition: Activation and activation blocking as nonautomatic processes.

“…In conflict with this automaticity hypothesis, a semantic priming effect is not always obtained for associated prime-target pairs. Instead, its appearance depends on (a) instructions dictating how the prime word is to be processed (e.g., Besner, Smith, & MacLeod, 1990; Friedrich, Henik, & Tzelgov, 1991; Friedrich, Kellogg, & Henik, 1982; Henik, Friedrich, & Kellogg, 1983; Henik, Friedrich, Tzelgov, & Tramer, 1994; Hoffman & MacMillan, 1985; Kaye & Brown, 1985; Margolin, 1983; Parkin, 1979; Smith, 1979; Smith, Theodor, & Franklin, 1983), (b) the type of relation shared by words in the test list (e.g., Snow & Neely, 1987), and (c) the relative duration of the prime word (Smith, Besner, & Miyoshi, 1994). 3 With these prominent exceptions to the normally robust semantic context effect duly noted, we turn our attention to a particular instructional manipulation, letter search of the prime word.…”