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Article
Semantic priming of familiar songs
Memory & Cognition
  • Sarah K Johnson
  • Andrea R Halpern, Bucknell University
Publication Date
1-1-2012
Volume
40
Issue
4
Disciplines
Department
Psychology
Abstract

We explored the functional organization of semantic memory for music by comparing priming across familiar songs both within modalities (Experiment 1, tune to tune; Experiment 3, category label to lyrics) and across modalities (Experiment 2, category label to tune; Experiment 4, tune to lyrics). Participants judged whether or not the target tune or lyrics were real (akin to lexical decision tasks). We found significant priming, analogous to linguistic associative-priming effects, in reaction times for related primes as compared to unrelated primes, but primarily for within-modality comparisons. Reaction times to tunes (e.g., "Silent Night") were faster following related tunes ("Deck the Hall") than following unrelated tunes ("God Bless America"). However, a category label (e.g., Christmas) did not prime tunes from within that category. Lyrics were primed by a related category label, but not by a related tune. These results support the conceptual organization of music in semantic memory, but with potentially weaker associations across modalities.

Citation Information
Sarah K Johnson and Andrea R Halpern. "Semantic priming of familiar songs" Memory & Cognition (2012) p. 579 - 593
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/andrea_halpern/26/