ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B

›› 2004, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (06): 637-643.

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INHIBITION FOR AMBIGUOUS WORD INAPPROPRIATE MEANING

Zhou Zhijin, Chen Yongming,Yang Lixia,Chen Hsuan-chih   

  1. (1School of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China) (2Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China) (3Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)
  • Received:2003-02-24 Revised:1900-01-01 Published:2004-11-30 Online:2004-11-30
  • Contact: Zhou Zhijin

Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to explore the inappropriate meanings inhibited in ambiguous word processing. Subjects were 128 students (Exp1 and 2) in Beijing University of Science and Technology, and Beijing Agriculture University, China. They were asked to verify whether the test word matched the meaning of the sentence they just read. The test words were present at interstimulus interval (ISI) 200ms and 800ms respectively. The results showed: (1) The inappropriate meanings of homographs and homophones can be inhibited to some extents. (2) At ISI 200ms subordinate (inappropriate) meanings of homophones were inhibited, but subordinate (inappropriate) meanings of homographs cannot be inhibited completely. (3) The main (inappropriate) meanings of homographs and homophones cannot be inhibited completely even if at ISI 800ms.

Key words: homograph, homophone, inhibition, inappropriate meaning

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