Effects of Competing Speech on Sentence-Word Priming: Semantic, Perceptual, and Attentional Factors

Abstract

This study examined the effects of a competing signal on sentence-word priming using an auditory lexical decision paradigm.Previous studies have suggested that the facilitatory component of the sentential priming effect is particularly sensitive to acoustic distortions that reduce the perceptibility of the sentence context, whereas the inhibitory component is more sensitive to increased attentional demand.Three competing signal conditions were compared: forward speech presented to a different ear, backward speech presented to a different ear, and forward speech presented to the same ear.The results demonstrate that the competing signal has different effects on priming depending upon the semantic content of the signal and its perceptual isolability from the sentence context.