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University of the Pacific

The effect of phonological and semantic cues on word retrieval in adults

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Word retrieval difficulties can affect individuals who have had strokes or head trauma (Goodglass & Wingfield, 1997) and to a lesser extent, typically aging adults. This can affect an individual's ability to name pictures accurately and quickly. Cues are used to help individuals with word retrieval difficulties in fmding specific words. Two commonly used cues are semantic and phonological cues. Semantic cues can be information about the word the person is trying to retrieve, such as its definition, and/or its functions. Phonological cues are usually the initial sound of a word that a person is attempting to retrieve. Previous research has suggested that both of these cues, in isolation, are effective in stimulating word retrieval during naming tasks (Li & Williams 1989; Stirnley & Noll 1991 ). However, research has not investigated the effects of combining these two cues during picture naming tasks. The current study observed participants under four different cueing conditions during a picture naming task with the Boston Naming Test.</p> <p>The four conditions include a control group (received no cues), a semantically cued group (received a semantic cue before being asked to name a picture), a phonologically cued group (received a phonological cue before being asked to name a picture), and a semanticallyphonologically cued group (received a semantic and phonological cue before being asked to name a picture). Each group was compared on number of items correctly named and response times. The results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups with regard to number of items named. There was a statistically significant difference found between the groups with regards to response times. These findings are discussed and compared to previous research and current word retrieval theories.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science (M.S.)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Speech-Language Pathology
Year dc:date.available
2008

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Burrill, Katheryn Elizabeth
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Michael Susca

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/694
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-1693

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of the Pacific
Base URL
scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Burrill, Katheryn Elizabeth. The effect of phonological and semantic cues on word retrieval in adults. Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted thesis, 2008. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/694