What data from the simple-picture naming task tell us about lexical competition-A rejoinder to Janssen, Schiller, and Alario

Abstract

In our original article, we argued that in particular data from the simple-picture naming paradigm support the view that the selection of gender-marking determiners takes place in a competitive fashion. In this paradigm, participants produce singular and plural noun phrases consisting of a definite determiner and a noun. In their reply, Janssen, Schiller, and Alario argue that this conclusion is overly optimistic. In particular, they suggest that when the available data are viewed from a different, arguably more appropriate perspective, the pattern is less consistent than we described it. They also report two new experiments which they take as evidence against our hypothesis that effects observed in the simple-picture naming paradigm reflect a mixture of facilitation and interference, depending on the mix of singular and plural trials in a particular experiment. Here we add some thoughts on the suggested new view on the data and qualify our proportion argument.