ABSTRACT
It is debatable whether meaning activation is involved in performing some lexical tasks such as the LDT and naming task. However, there are tasks whose successful completion requires the activation of meaning. They are referred to as semantic tasks. An example is semantic classification which requires a participant to classify words based on a semantic criterion such as animacy. These tasks are similar to the lexical tasks in that the stimuli are usually isolated words or pictures, but they are semantic in nature in that the activation of meaning is obligatory in performing these tasks. This chapter covers nine such tasks in six sections. These tasks are often used to explore semantic representation and processing. Even when they are used in studies whose focus is not immediately on semantic processing, their semantic nature is often the reason for their adoption.
