Running Head: PRIMING IN LEXICAL ACCESS The Role of Priming in Lexical Access and Speech Production

Human language function is inextricably linked to memory in that the comprehension and production of language requires access to linguistic structures stored at various levels of abstraction and complexity. The act of producing even a single word requires (at a minimum) the retrieval of its semantic, lexical, syntactic, and phonological/orthographic properties before articulation can occur. As with the retrieval of other structures and types of information stored in memory, the retrieval of language representations is shaped by the speaker‟s recent experiences and behaviors, some of which occur unconsciously via priming. This chapter will review extant research on priming within the domain of language production, specifically how the production of a single word is influenced by priming. Single-word production studies provide the bulk of empirical data used to inform models of language production, and priming research has been critical to our understanding of the levels of representation that are accessed by speakers during the course of word production. Describing a variety of methodologies, this chapter examines the different levels at which priming can influence production, particularly: 1) semantic activation, 2) lexical selection, and 3) phonological encoding. We will address several of the most important theoretical questions that have dominated the speech production literature and discuss how priming research has contributed to conclusions about the structures and processes engaged at the semantic, lexical, and phonological levels. A synthesis of findings from priming research will help to critically evaluate existing theoretical models of speech production and suggest directions for future research. Priming in Lexical Access 3 INTRODUCTION The human brain is designed to identify patterns in the environment. This innate preference for consistency influences how new information is integrated with existing knowledge structures, and conversely, how experience guides future behaviors. Although we are often unaware of these influences, prior experience not only guides our overt actions and behaviors but also shapes how we think about and perceive the world. Priming refers to the phenomenon where one‟s response to a current stimulus is unconsciously affected by recent exposure to the same or a related stimulus, a mechanism presumed to reflect spreading activation among conceptuallyor perceptually-similar structures stored in memory (e.g., Anderson, 1983; Balota & Lorch, 1986; Collins & Loftus, 1975; Neely, 1977; Posner & Snyder, 1975). Although early priming studies were designed to reveal the distinct organizational structures of episodic and semantic memory systems, more recently the priming effect has been extended beyond memory to a variety of psychological domains, including perception (e.g., Balcetis & Dunning, 2006; Michelon & Koenig, 2002), social behavior and stereotyping (e.g., Kawakami, Dovidio, & Dijksterhuis, 2003; Ledgerwood & Chaiken, 2007), and music cognition (e.g., Peretz, Radeau, & Arguin, 2004). The focus of this chapter is on priming within the domain of language, specifically the retrieval and production of individual words. The application of various priming methodologies to the study of speech production has made substantial contributions to our understanding of the structures and processes engaged during single-word production. At a minimum, language researchers distinguish among three major domains of speech production: semantics, the linguistic representation of knowledge and meaning; phonology, the sound structure of language; and syntax, the rules and processes for the combinatorial potential of language. We begin this review with a description of the semantic, phonological, and syntactic properties of words and a brief presentation of the two most Priming in Lexical Access 4 prominent types of speech production theories in terms of how these properties are accessed: interactive and discrete. We then provide a concise summary of common empirical methodologies used to investigate single-word production in order to facilitate the readers‟ understanding of the more complex tasks involving priming. Yet the primary goal of this chapter is to highlight the critical role that priming research has played in the construction of theoretical approaches to speech production. As such, the bulk of this review will focus on several of the most important research questions that underscore our understanding of speech production at the single-word level. We will describe how various priming paradigms have been used to develop preliminary answers to each of these questions and evaluate existing theoretical interpretations of empirical patterns. Unsurprisingly, some questions remain largely unanswered and demand substantial future inquiry before any solid conclusions can be drawn. Nonetheless, priming research has made great strides towards the development of more advanced models of the cognitive mechanisms that underlie successful word production and the conditions that encourage production failures. Levels of Speech Production