Table 2.

Illustration of experimental design

Condition	Sentences (incidental learning)
1	The polar bear chases the seal.
	The collie chases the cat.
	The German shepherd herds the sheep.
2	The polar bear chases the seal.
	The German shepherd chases the cat.
	The collie herds the sheep.
3	The seal chases the fish.
	The collie chases the cat.
	The German shepherd herds the sheep.
4	The seal chases the fish.
	The German shepherd chases the cat.
	The collie herds the sheep.
Similarity comparisons
Base	Target 1	Target 2
seal	collie	German shepherd
seal	cat	collie
seal	cat	German shepherd
cat	collie	German shepherd
sheep	collie	German shepherd

Notes: The full design consisted of four copies of the above structure, with four distinct word sets. The condition to which a participant was assigned for a given word set determined the sentences (s)he viewed, but all participants answered the same similarity comparisons. Thus each participant viewed 12 sentences (plus 4 catch trials) during incidental learning, and later answered 20 similarity comparisons. See the Appendix for words from the other three sets.