Semantic satiation revisited with a lexical decision task

Abstract

The semantic satiation hypothesis suggests that continuous verbalization of a word leads to a reduction in its meaning. This hypothesis was examined by having subjects repeat a priming word either once or for 30 sec prior to making a word-nonword lexical decision about a visually presented target. The primes were associated with (Experiments 1 and 3), identical to (Experiment 2), or unassociated with the word targets. As is usually found, target lexical decision times were significantly facilitated by oral priming with both the associated and identical words. While the magnitude of this facilitation effect was reduced slightly by continuous repetition of the prime in Experiment I, no such reduction was observed in Experiments 2 and 3. These results are discussed in the context of a two-factor theory of semantic processing with the aid of Morton's logogen model. It was concluded that semantic satiation may not be semantic at all.

Semantic satiation affects category membership decision time but not lexical priming

“…Sixteen male and 16 female introductory psychology students participated in the experiment for course credit. None had partie- The results of the present experiments have demonstrated that satiation of a category name (l) increases category membership decision time for exemplars, (2) does not affect category decision time for nonexemplars, and (3) does not influence priming with the lexical decision task (replicating the findings of Cohene et al, 1978; see also Neely, 1977a). The results are consistent with the idea that repeated pronunciation of a word affects the accessibility of semantic information related to that word.…”

“…Second, the differential effect of satiation with the priminglexical decision (Cohene et al, 1978) and category membership tasks potentially bears interesting implications for semantic priming theory (Collins & Loftus, 1975;Neely, 1977b). However, pertaining to the latter point, we note that it seems possible that procedural and/or stimulus material differences between the Cohene et al and our Experiments 1 and 2 may account for the different effects of satiation noted.…”

“…Neely (1977a) tested the semantic satiation hypothesis with the semantic priming-lexical decision task and obtained disconfmning evidence. Cohene et al (1978) had subjects repeat a prime word once or for 30 sec and measured lexical decision latencies. No differential priming effect was obtained for associated and unassociated or identical and unassociated word targets as a function of repetition period.…”

“…However, Neely used an l l-sec repetition period, which may be too short for sufficient satiation to develop. Cohene, Smith, and Klein (1978) tested the semantic satiation hypothesis by having subjects first pronounce a prime word either once or repeatedly for 30 sec and then make a lexical decision about a target item. In their Experiments 1 and 3, the target words were either associatively related or unrelated to the prime word, and in their Experiment 2, the target words were either identical to or unassociated with the prime word.…”

Verbal Repetition in the Reappraisal of Contamination-Related Thoughts

“…Although a number of studies have supported the semantic satiation hypothesis (Balota & Black, 1997;Kanungo & Lambert, 1963;Lewis & Ellis, 2000;Lindquist, Barrett, BlissMoreau, & Russell, 2006;Pilotti, Antrobus, & Duff, 1997;Pynte, 1991;Smith, 1984;Smith & Klein, 1990), other studies have failed to support it (Cohene, Smith, & Klein, 1978;Esposito & Pelton, 1969, 1971Frenck-Mestre, Besson, & Pynte, 1997;Neely, 1977). However, it has been suggested that certain tasks used to detect semantic satiation may not be adequate to do so.…”