Sweklej, J. 1 , Balas, R. 1, 2 , Pochwatko, G. 1, 2 & Godlewska, M. 1
1 Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities
2 Institute of Psychology Polish Academy of Sciences
Semantic coherence judgments were shown to rely on fluent processing of semantically related concepts. In four studies we investigated whether such processing requires attentional resources, depends on mood and provide basis for intuitive exclusion. We used Bowers et al.‘s (1990) task presenting triads of semantically related words with a commonly associated fourth concept (a solution). The task was to provide the solution and, if unable to do so, judge whether the triads were semantically coherent. We used a secondary task to investigate the automaticity of processes leading to coherence judgments. Attentional load decreased the insight to solutions whereas coherence judgments were unaffected (Exp. 1). Additional mood manipulation showed that negative mood interferes with processing of semantically related concepts suggesting that fluency is responsible for coherence judgments (Exp. 2). Next we introduced a fourth, unrelated, word into triads. The data showed participants’ ability to exclude the non-fitting word even though they could not provide the solution to the triad (Exp. 3). The accuracy of intuitive exclusion was enhanced by positive and inhibited by negative mood (Exp. 4). We conclude that coherence judgments rely on automatic and fluent processing of semantic associations and this fluency can be used in intuitive exclusion.