Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Conscious Cogn. 2011 Dec;20(4):1327-43. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2011.05.010. Epub 2011 Jun 12.
Homonyms, i.e. ambiguous words like 'score', have different meanings in different contexts. Previous research indicates that all potential meanings of a homonym are first accessed in parallel before one of the meanings is selected in a competitive race. If these processes are automatic, these processes of selection should even be observed when homonyms are shown subliminally. This study measured the time course of subliminal and supraliminal priming by homonyms with a frequent (dominant) and a rare (subordinate) meaning in a neutral context, using a lexical decision task. In the subliminal condition, priming across prime-target asynchronies ranging from 100 ms to 1.5 s indicated that the dominant meaning of homonyms was facilitated and the subordinate meaning was inhibited. This indicates that selection of meaning was much faster with subliminal presentation than with supraliminal presentation. Awareness of a prime might decelerate an otherwise rapid selection process.
同音异义词，如“score”，在不同的上下文中有不同的含义。先前的研究表明，同音异义词的所有潜在含义首先是并行访问的，然后在竞争中选择其中一个含义。如果这些过程是自动的，那么即使在潜意识中呈现同音异义词时，也应该观察到这些选择过程。本研究使用词汇判断任务，以中性语境中具有常见（主导）和罕见（从属）含义的同音异义词，测量了潜意识和超意识启动的时间过程。在潜意识条件下，从 100 毫秒到 1.5 秒的启动-目标异步表明，同音异义词的主导意义得到促进，从属意义受到抑制。这表明，与超意识呈现相比，潜意识呈现更能快速选择意义。对一个词的意识可能会减缓一个原本快速的选择过程。
