Brédart S, Valentine T
Department of Experimental Psychology (B-32), University of Liège, Belgium.
Memory. 1998 Mar;6(2):199-206. doi: 10.1080/741942072.
Cohen (1990) hypothesised that the retrieval of proper names is particularly difficult because proper names convey little information about their bearers' attributes. In the present study, this hypothesis was evaluated by using a face naming task. Faces were those of cartoon and comic-strip characters bearing either arbitrary names or descriptive names. Results unequivocally showed that retrieval blocks occurred more often in naming characters bearing arbitrary names than in naming characters bearing descriptive names. Moreover, retrieving arbitrary names that were also common names was as difficult as retrieving arbitrary names that were not common names. These results support Cohen's claim that arbitrariness plays a significant role in the relative vulnerability of proper name retrieval.
科恩（1990年）提出假设，认为专有名词的检索特别困难，因为专有名词传达的关于其承载者属性的信息很少。在本研究中，通过使用面部命名任务对这一假设进行了评估。面部是卡通和连环漫画角色的面部，这些角色要么有任意性的名字，要么有描述性的名字。结果明确表明，在给有任意性名字的角色命名时，检索障碍比给有描述性名字的角色命名时更常出现。此外，检索也是常用名的任意性名字与检索不是常用名的任意性名字一样困难。这些结果支持了科恩的观点，即任意性在专有名词检索的相对易损性中起重要作用。
