Repetition Priming in Speeded Word Reading: Contributions of Perceptual and Conceptual Processing Episodes

Five experiments investigated repetition priming on an indirect speeded word reading (naming) test, a task intended to circumvent conscious recollection. Reading a word or generating it from a semantic cue (either a phrase or an antonym) produced reliable priming of similar magnitude on this indirect test of memory. Efforts to encourage conscious recollection elevated response latencies in speeded reading and improved performance on a direct test of recognition memory, without creating a difference in the amount of priming observed in the Read and Generate conditions. We also found more priming for visually than for auditorily studied words, consistent with the standard pattern for indirect tests assumed to be data-driven. Speeded word reading provides a good measure of repetition priming because the fully exposed target word recruits both perceptual and conceptual aspects of the initial interpretive encoding episode. © 2000 Academic Press