title: Language production is facilitated by semantic richness but inhibited by semantic density: Evidence from picture naming.
abstract: Communicating meaningful messages is the ultimate goal of language production. Yet, verbal messages can differ widely in the complexity and richness of their semantic content, and such differences should strongly modulate conceptual and lexical encoding processes during speech planning. However, despite the crucial role of semantic content in language production, the influence of this variability is currently unclear. Here, we investigate influences of the number of associated semantic features and intercorrelational feature density on language production during picture naming. While the number of semantic features facilitated naming, intercorrelational feature density inhibited naming. Both effects follow naturally from the assumption of conceptual facilitation and simultaneous lexical competition. They are difficult to accommodate with language production theories dismissing lexical competition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: rabovsky@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Milena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rabovsky
authors.affiliation: Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Schad
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Rasha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abdel Rahman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Language production; Lexical competition; Lexical selection; Number of features; Picture naming; Semantic density; Semantic features; Semantic richness