Activation

Definition

Activation refers to the process by which certain cognitive representations, such as words or concepts, are made available for use during language processing. This term is central to understanding how we access words in our mental lexicon and recognize them during communication, as it involves the retrieval of relevant information from memory based on the context or stimulus presented.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Activation can be influenced by various factors such as frequency of word usage, context, and relatedness to other concepts.
2. When a word is activated, it becomes easier to recognize and retrieve it from memory, enhancing fluency in language processing.
3. The spread of activation model suggests that when one concept is activated, related concepts may also be activated due to their interconnectedness.
4. The level of activation can vary; highly frequent or recently used words are usually more easily accessible than less common ones.
5. Research using reaction time measurements often shows that faster recognition of words occurs when they are primed by semantically related words.

Review Questions

• How does the process of activation affect lexical access and word recognition?
  • Activation plays a crucial role in lexical access by facilitating the retrieval of words from memory when needed. When a word is activated, it enhances the likelihood that the speaker will recognize or produce that word quickly during communication. The efficiency of this process is influenced by factors such as how often a word is used and its relationship to other concepts in the mental lexicon.
• Discuss how priming experiments illustrate the concept of activation in language processing.
  • Priming experiments highlight activation by showing that exposure to one word can speed up the recognition or production of a related word. For example, if participants are presented with the word 'bread' and later asked to recognize 'butter', they typically respond faster than if 'chair' were presented first. This illustrates how activation can spread through related concepts in our mental lexicon, thereby affecting how quickly we access and recognize words.
• Evaluate the implications of activation theory for understanding language processing in bilingual individuals.
  • Activation theory suggests that bilingual individuals may have both languages activated simultaneously when processing language. This means that when one language is spoken, it can influence the activation and retrieval of words in the other language. This phenomenon can lead to code-switching or language interference, where elements from both languages impact communication. Understanding this dynamic can provide insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying bilingualism and how language contexts shape the activation process.

Related terms

Lexical Access: The process by which a speaker retrieves a word from their mental lexicon when producing or comprehending language.

Priming: A technique in cognitive psychology where exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus, often used to demonstrate the effects of activation on word recognition.

Semantic Memory: A type of long-term memory that involves the storage and retrieval of factual information and concepts, playing a key role in how activation occurs.