Reading versus naming: The effect of target set size on contextual interference and facilitation

Abstract

Reading and naming tasks are differentialAy affected by variations in target set size. In naming tasks, response latencies strongly increase with set size, whereas in reaBing tasks, no, or only minor, increases are found. The results of a number of studies suggest that reading and naming tasks also differ in the effect of target set size on contextual interference and facilitation. In this study, target set size was manipulated in letter-reading and picture-naming tasks that were in all further respects as similar as possible. Four distractor conditions were used: incongruent, neutral, control, and congruent. Apart from differential effects of set size on overall mean reaction time, the reading and naming tasks showed similar results. With increasing target set size, interference due to an incongruent distractor decreased and facilitation due to a congruent distractor increased. This interference-facilitation tradeoff was obtained regardless of whether the neutral condition or the control condition was used as a baseline. A logogen model is presented that accounts for these changes in context effects in terms of differences in criterion level and rate of accumulation of activation. © 1987 Psychonomic Society, Inc.