The time course of lemma retrieval in lexical decision tasks.

The time course of lemma retrieval was assessed in lexical decision tasks with semantic and syntactic priming using monomorphemic English nouns, verbs, and ambiguous word forms. The results showed distinct processing patterns associated with different syntactic categories. The findings suggest that among other factors lemma retrieval is affected by different types of constraints working on entity/event construal. The findings can be used to propose a view according to which a lemma represents an activation state triggered by a number of processing factors, such as conventionalized conceptual architecture of a lexical item and its relative activation threshold.