Decomposition of Implict Memory Processes

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The proposed experiments decompose the components of repetition priming in picture naming and in category exemplar generation. Repetition priming in picture naming is indicated by reduced response times for previously presented items relative to new items, and priming in category exemplar generation is indicated by a bias to produce previously presented items rather than new items. The first specific aim is to decompose priming mechanisms in picture naming and translation by selective facilitation. In Experiments 1-2, an "additive-factors" logic is used to test the selective priming and independence of object identification and word-retrieval components of picture naming. In Experiment 3, the method is extended to separate word identification and word retrieval components of translation. The second specific aim is to examine and resolve asymmetries in priming across tasks. Experiments 4-5 evaluate the symmetry of priming across tasks that require common object identification or word retrieval processes and resolve the asymmetry of priming between naming words and naming pictures. Experiment 6 evaluates the contributions of object-identification and word-retrieval priming to the endurance of picture naming facilitation over time. The third specific aim is to decompose processes involved in the priming of category associations. Experiments 7-9 evaluate the contributions of changes in concept availability and changes in word availability to priming in category exemplar generation. Most of the proposed experiments are conducted with bilingual participants, using bilingual materials in order to assign two phonologically and orthographically distinct labels to each concept or picture. The broader goal of this project is a better understanding of the mechanisms of memory. By specifying the processes that are primed in implicit memory tasks, it will be possible to better specify the nature of memory deficits exhibited by patients with neuropsychological disorders.