Priming and property dominance effects in semantic memory

Abstract

Retrieval from semantic memory was examined by means of reaction times to property statements (e.g., sparrow has beak). The variables of interest were normatively defined property dominance (frequency), type of priming between related sentences (sparrow-sparrow vs. sparrow-robin), and separation or lag between related sentences. Statements asserting a high-dominant property (1) were verified more quickly than those containing low-dominant properties, (2) were primed by a preceding related sentence of either high or low dominance, and (3) revealed decay of priming from Lag 1 to 4. The differences between priming with and without stimulus repetition were nonsignificant when stimuli were treated as a random effect. In support of the Collins and Quillian (1972) model of semantic memory, the priming and property dominance factors interacted.