Priming via relational similarity: A copper horse is faster when seen through a glass eye

Relation priming is a phenomenon in which comprehension of a word pair (e.g., copper horse) is facilitated by the prior presentation of another word pair (e.g., glass eye) that instantiates the same conceptual relation (i.e., composed of). We investigated whether relation priming is contingent on lexical similarity. Study 1 revealed that relational similarity, but not lexical similarity, reliably predicted noun phrase comprehension across several previously published experiments. Study 2 demonstrated relation priming between lexically dissimilar phrases (e.g., steel scissors → straw hat). Thus, across both studies, lexical similarity failed to explain relation priming. Rather, comprehension of a target phrase was a function of its relational similarity to the prime phrase. Results are inconsistent with models in which conceptual relations are bound to the particular concepts that instantiate them, and suggest instead that conceptual relations are independent representational units that can be utilized by various and dissimilar concepts.