Visual semantic features are activated during the processing of concrete words: event-related potential evidence for perceptual semantic priming

There has been conflicting evidence to date regarding the existence of non-strategic semantic priming based on semantic similarity, and in particular on visual–perceptual semantic features (e.g., button–coin: words refer to objects with the same global shape). Both event-related potential (ERP) and reaction time (RT) measures were employed to investigate visual–perceptual semantic priming in a word-pair lexical decision task designed to minimise the contribution of conscious strategic processing. While no RT priming effect was observed, a robust priming effect was obtained on the N400 component of the ERP. This result shows that semantic priming, as indexed by the N400 component, can be supported by nonassociative visual–perceptual semantic relations. The data are consistent with perceptual form information being accessed during the processing of concrete words, and provide support for models of semantic representation which incorporate semantic features and form information.