Contextual Constraints on Ambiguous Word Recognition.

Two major hypotheses are currently at issue concerning the effects of semantic context on ambiguous word recognition: (1) the selective-retrieval hypothesis (SRH) maintains that a single meaning is retrieved from memory, and (2) the nonselective-retrieval hypothesis maintains that all meanings are retrieved from memory. To help clear up this controversy, the following experiment was undertaken. Subjects processed a sequence of three words in which the second word was ambiguous. When the first and second words were semantically related, a similar relation between the second and third words facilitated recognizing the third word, but a dissimilar relation did not. Apparently alternative meanings of ambiguous words are not accessed simultaneously. The data collected is in support of the SRH hypothesis. (Author/TL)