Components of the Between-language Semantic Priming Effect

The robustness of the between-language semantic priming effect was investigated in two experiments. In the first, we found that the effect is not affected by language expectation in a lexical decision task. In the second experiment, a reliable between-language effect was obtained when the subjects had to pronounce the target. For both experiments, there was equal between- and within-language semantic priming which was insensitive to SOA. The results suggest the effects of prime-language and target-language on semantic priming are additive, and are consistent with the amodal representation of concepts.