TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fieder, Nora
A1  - Wartenburger, Isabell
A1  - Abdel Rahman, Rasha
T1  - A close call
BT  - Interference from semantic neighbourhood density and similarity in language production
JF  - Memory & cognition
N2  - The present study investigated how lexical selection is influenced by the number of semantically related representations (semantic neighbourhood density) and their similarity (semantic distance) to the target in a speeded picture-naming task. Semantic neighbourhood density and similarity as continuous variables were used to assess lexical selection for which competitive and noncompetitive mechanisms have been proposed. Previous studies found mixed effects of semantic neighbourhood variables, leaving this issue unresolved. Here, we demonstrate interference of semantic neighbourhood similarity with less accurate naming responses and a higher likelihood of producing semantic errors and omissions over accurate responses for words with semantically more similar (closer) neighbours. No main effect of semantic neighbourhood density and no interaction between semantic neighbourhood density and similarity was found. We assessed further whether semantic neighbourhood density can affect naming performance if semantic neighbours exceed a certain degree of semantic similarity. Semantic similarity between the target and each neighbour was used to split semantic neighbourhood density into two different density variables: The number of semantically close neighbours versus distant neighbours. The results showed a significant effect of close, but not of distant, semantic neighbourhood density: Naming pictures of targets with more close semantic neighbours led to longer naming latencies, less accurate responses, and a higher likelihood for the production of semantic errors and omissions over accurate responses. The results show that word inherent semantic attributes such as semantic neighbourhood similarity and the number of coactivated close semantic neighbours modulate lexical selection supporting theories of competitive lexical processing.
KW  - Language production
KW  - Semantic processing
KW  - Lexical selection
KW  - Semantic neighbours
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-018-0856-y
SN  - 0090-502X
SN  - 1532-5946
VL  - 47
IS  - 1
SP  - 145
EP  - 168
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fieder, Nora
A1  - Abdel Rahman, Rasha
A1  - Wartenburger, Isabell
T1  - Die Konkurrenz schläft nie!
BT  - Evidenz für den lexikalischen Wettbewerb mit semantischen Nachbarn in der Wortproduktion bei älteren Sprachgesunden und aphasischen Personen
JF  - Spektrum Patholinguistik
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-469594
SN  - 978-3-86956-479-1
SN  - 1866-9085
SN  - 1866-9433
IS  - 12
SP  - 181
EP  - 196
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  -