Mechanisms underlying priming on perceptual tests.

Four experiments examined perceptual, lexical, and conceptual processing effects in priming on word fragment completion (WFC) and perceptual identification (PID). In Experiment 1, visual words produced more priming than auditory or generated words, and pictures produced the least priming, suggesting that the effects of different encoding processes can be distinguished. In Experiments 2 and 3, Ss studied anagrams (e.g., tripocs), but only Ss instructed to think of the original words by mentally interchanging the vowels exhibited significant priming. Thus, lexical access is more important than surface similarity in priming. In Experiment 4, Ss studied compounds that either preserved the target's meaning (e.g., scotch bottle) or altered its meaning (e.g., scotch tape). Encoded meaning affected priming on WFC but not on PID, suggesting that conceptual processing plays a larger role in WFC. Overall the results suggest that priming must be understood in terms of multiple processes.