Stages of lexical retrieval

Beginning with a consideration of visual confrontation naming, models requiring an intervening construct between semantic input and phonological access are distinguished from those which permit direct activation of phonology upon visual identification of a picture. Discrete stage models are also distinguished from non-discrete models. In considering how various types of aphasic naming errors may be reconciled with different models of naming, it was concluded that semantic substitutions are readily accommodated by a variety of models, but that phonological errors of the type characteristic of aphasics are most easily dealt with by spreading activation models. A discussion of lexical access in free discourse emphasized not only the absence of any stages related to visual processing, but the different character of the semantic activity that leads to phonological activation in running speech, in contrast to the canonical semantic representations of picture naming and naming to description.