The locus of interference in Picture-World Interference and Stroop effects: an eye-tracking study

In word production literature, the functional locus of the semantic interference effect is under debate. The effect, consisting of longer naming latencies in presence of semantically related materials, receives different explanations from different models, placing the locus of the effect either at the response selection or at the response articulation stage of processing. The aim of the present study is to test interference effects in lexical production using the Stroop and the Picture-Word Interference paradigm in order to clarify if the interference effect takes place at an early phase (response selection) or later (response articulation). To this aim, an experiment based on a dual-task procedure was realized. Behavioral measures (response times) and visual behavior data (gaze duration) were collected. The analysis evidenced the presence of the interference effect in both the tasks. In addition, some evidence suggests an early origin of the effect.