Utterance format affects phonological priming in the picture-word task: implications for models of phonological encoding in speech production.

Picture-word experiments investigating the production of multiword utterances with distractors that are phonologically related to words in noninitial position have yielded inconsistent results, ranging from facilitation to inhibition. A comparison of these studies is complicated by differences in detail. In parallel to the empirical inconsistencies, different theoretical accounts of phonological encoding in speech production have been provided. In the present article, the authors propose a unitary account, which can in principle account for facilitation, null effects, and inhibition. It assumes a graded activation pattern of the elements within the scope of phonological advance planning. The account is tested in an experiment varying utterance format while keeping all other aspects constant. The results are consistent with the proposed unitary account.