Semantic Effects in Naming and Perceptual Identification but Not in Delayed Naming: Implications for Models and Tasks

Previous research has demonstrated that the subjective danger and usefulness of words affect lexical decision times. Usually, an interaction is found: Increasing danger predicts faster reaction times (RTs) for words low on usefulness, but increasing danger predicts slower RTs for words high on usefulness. The authors show the same interaction with immediate auditory naming. The interaction disappeared with a delayed auditory naming control experiment, suggesting that it has a perceptual basis. In an attempt to separate input (signal to ear) from output (brain to muscle) processes in word recognition, the authors ran 2 auditory perceptual identification experiments. The interaction was again significant, but performance was best for words high on both danger and usefulness. This suggests that initial demonstrations of the interaction were reflecting an output approach/withdraw response conflict induced by stimuli that are both dangerous and useful. The interaction cannot be characterized as a tradeoff of speed versus accuracy.