Lexical Interference

▪ ABSTRACT: This paper reports an experiment designed to assess the occurrence of lexical interference in verb production in Spanish. Using the semantic competitors paradigm (HOWARD et al., 2006), we show that the higher the number of verbs of the same category produced, the longer it takes to retrieve another verb of the same category in a picture naming task. According to our data, the production of a related verb delays the naming of a new member of the category by 20 ms., which means that, as is the case with nouns, semantically related verbs compete for selection. These results support the statement that, regardless their differences with respect to semantic representation and organization, verb and noun selection are guided by the same principles. Methodologically, our findings confirm that the paradigm is highly sensitive to semantic proximity effects, in terms of either categories or features. In light of these findings, we discuss the reasons why previous studies exploring semantic relatedness effects in verb production, most of them using the picture-word interference paradigm, have led to inconclusive and sometimes contradictory results. ▪

Language learning is generally described as a problem of acquiring new information (e.g., new words). However, equally important are changes in how the system processes known information. For example, a wealth of studies has suggested dramatic changes over development in how efficiently children recognize familiar words, but it is unknown what kind of experience-dependent mechanisms of plasticity give rise to such changes in real-time processing. We examined the plasticity of the language processing system by testing whether a fundamental aspect of spoken word recognition, lexical interference, can be altered by experience. Adult participants were trained on a set of familiar words over a series of 4 tasks. In the high-competition (HC) condition, tasks were designed to encourage coactivation of similar words (e.g., net and neck) and to require listeners to resolve this competition. Tasks were similar in the low-competition (LC) condition, but did not enhance this competition. Immediately after training, interlexical interference was tested using a visual world paradigm task. Participants in the HC group resolved interference to a fuller degree than those in the LC group, demonstrating that experience can shape the way competition between words is resolved. TRACE simulations showed that the observed late differences in the pattern of interference resolution can be attributed to differences in the strength of lexical inhibition. These findings inform cognitive models in many domains that involve competition/interference processes, and suggest an experience-dependent mechanism of plasticity that may underlie longer term changes in processing efficiency associated with both typical and atypical development.