LOCK ADDRESS CONTENTION PREDICTOR

Techniques for selectively executing a lock instruction speculatively or non-speculatively based on lock address prediction and/or temporal lock prediction. including methods an devices for locking an entry in a memory device. In some techniques, a lock instruction executed by a thread for a particular memory entry of a memory device is detected. Whether contention occurred for the particular memory entry during an earlier speculative lock is detected on a condition that the lock instruction comprises a speculative lock instruction. The lock is executed non-speculatively if contention occurred for the particular memory entry during an earlier speculative lock. The lock is executed speculatively if contention did not occur for the particular memory entry during an earlier speculative lock.