Indirect word priming in connected semantic and phonological contexts

Abstract

Indirect activation was explored by presenting subjects with short passages and poems that were designed to activate relevant semantic and phonological (rhyming) representations. The effect of activation was tested with the word completion test in which subjects completed initial stems of target words. The targets were related to the semantic and phonological contexts but had not themselves been presented in the passages. Both semantic and phonological contexts produced equivalent, but short-lasting, activation effects. Evidence is presented that such effects are automatic, without subjects’ (conscious) reference to the source of the activation.