Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

There is strong evidence about the preactivation of semantic information but controversial results about phonological preactivation. This research explored the individual differences in phono-semantic preactivation using the visual world paradigm. Participants looked at four competitors (semantic, phonological, and two unrelated) while hearing highly constraining sentences. Moreover, they were evaluated in verbal and nonverbal speed processing and working memory. Our results showed a strong semantic prediction but an inhibition of the phonological effect. The semantic prediction was related to verbal and nonverbal working memory but not processing speed. The results were discussed in terms of lexical selection and inhibitory top-down influences.