The role of semantic memory in picture and word processing
Lauren Sue Seifert · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · 1994
type of stimulus may activate specific information in permanent memory more quickly than another type of stimulus.However, it is not assumed that privileged access necessarily requires fewer steps for processing one type of stimulus than the other.In fact, a parsimonious model of picture and word processing may account for privileged access either by positing that processing is generally faster for a particular type of stimulus or by proposing that fewer steps are involved in processing that type of stimulus.As will be discussed in more detail below, it has been suggested that nonlinguistic items (e.g., colors, pictures, objects) have privileged access to information in semantic memory, and words seem to have privileged access to information in the lexicon (Potter & Faulconer, 1975; Smith & Magee, 1980).It is the goal of the current experiments to address issues concerning privileged access to information in permanent memory for words and pictures, and to investigate the nature of associations among representations in permanent memory to which words and pictures might have privileged access.