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Multiple meanings are not necessarily a disadvantage in semantic processing: evidence from homophone effects in semantic categorisation.

The ambiguity disadvantage (slower processing of ambiguous words relative to unambiguous words) has been taken as evidence for a distributed semantic representational system like that embodied in parallel distributed processing (PDP) models. In the present study, we investigated whether semantic amb...

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Published in:Language & Cognitive Processes Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 453 - 468
Main Authors: Siakaluk P, Pexman PM, Sears CR, Owen WJ
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Psychology Press (UK) Apr2007
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Apr2007
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      pub: Psychology Press (UK)
      place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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        atl: Multiple meanings are not necessarily a disadvantage in semantic processing: evidence from homophone effects in semantic categorisation.
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        au:
          Siakaluk P
          Pexman PM
          Sears CR
          Owen WJ
        affil: University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
      sug:
        subj:
          Language Processing
          Semantics
          Correlation Coefficient
          Descriptive Statistics
          Funding Source
          Mississippi
          Random Assignment
          Reaction Time
          Students, College
          T-Tests
          Two-Way Analysis of Variance
          Word Lists
          Human
      ab: The ambiguity disadvantage (slower processing of ambiguous words relative to unambiguous words) has been taken as evidence for a distributed semantic representational system like that embodied in parallel distributed processing (PDP) models. In the present study, we investigated whether semantic ambiguity slows meaning activation, as PDP models would predict, by examining homophone effects in semantic categorisation tasks. We observed a homophone effect in a go/no-go semantic categorisation task, but not in a yes/no semantic categorisation task. Our results suggest that previously reported ambiguity effects may have been due to the decision phase of the semantic categorisation task and not to the semantic processing phase, in which case the interpretation of the ambiguity disadvantage will need to be reconsidered.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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