Imageability effects in word naming: An individual differences analysis.

Abstract

The present research was designed to extend research by Strain, Patterson, and Seidenberg (1995) who found that imageability facilitates naming of low-frequency irregular words. Experiment 1 shows that the impact of imageability on word naming varies with phonological coding skill. In Experiment 2, the effect of imageability on naming low-frequency irregular words was shown to occur across an extended set of items. Together, the present findings support the notion that semantics may play a role in phonological coding when the mappings between orthography and phonology are weak.