Doesdarknesslead tohappiness? Masked suffix priming effects

Masked affix priming effects have usually been obtained for words sharing the initial affix (e.g., re action- RE FORM). However, prior evidence on masked suffix priming effects (e.g., bak er -WALK ER ) is inconclusive. In the present series of masked priming lexical decision experiments, a target word was briefly preceded by a morphologically or orthographically related prime, or by an unrelated prime. In Experiment 1, the prime words in the suffix priming condition were formed by their suffixes (e.g., er -WALK ER ). In Experiment 2, the primes included the suffix inserted in a nonsense symbol string (e.g., %%%% er -WALK ER ). In Experiment 3, the primes were formed by a real word that shared the suffix with the target (e.g., bak er -WALK ER ). The results showed that, when compared with an orthographic priming condition, masked suffix priming can be obtained independently of the degree of segmentation of the prime. Furthermore, the present experiments reveal a clear dissociation between orthographic priming and morphological priming.