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Semantic transparency and masked morphological priming: An ERP investigation
Author(s) -
Morris Joanna,
Frank Tiffany,
Grainger Jonathan,
Holcomb Phillip J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2007.00538.x
Subject(s) - psychology , priming (agriculture) , n400 , orthography , semantics (computer science) , cognitive psychology , lexical decision task , communication , transparency (behavior) , linguistics , event related potential , cognition , neuroscience , computer science , reading (process) , philosophy , botany , germination , computer security , biology , programming language
The role of semantics in the segmentation of morphologically complex words was examined using event‐related potentials (ERPs) recorded to target words primed by semantically transparent (hunter–hunt,) opaque (corner–corn), and orthographically related (scandal–scan) masked primes. Behavioral data showed that only transparent items gave rise to priming. The ERP data showed both N250 and the N400 effects with transparent items generating greater priming than orthographic or opaque. Furthermore, priming effects across conditions revealed the existence of a significant linear trend, with transparent items showing the greatest effects and orthographic items the smallest, suggesting that these priming effects vary as a function of morphological structure and semantic transparency. The results are discussed in terms of a model of morphological processing.