Words have different lexical and semantic properties that strongly influence their processing. In foreign languages, lexicons with lexical and semantic features of words were created to study the influence of these features on word processing. In the Slovene language, we do not have such a lexicon yet, which makes it impossible to investigate the influence of the semantic properties of Slovene words on their processing. The research was carried out to obtain estimates of words' semantic properties and investigate their effect on word processing. As part of the master's thesis, evaluations of semantic dimensions were collected for 296 Slovene nouns. 124 Slovene-speaking participants evaluated the words in an online questionnaire. The participants rated the words according to five semantic dimensions: concreteness, imageability, familiarity, valence, and arousal. Participants' ratings were highly reliable on all five semantic dimensions, being highest on the valence dimension and lowest on the arousal dimension. Semantic variables did not emerge as significant predictors of reaction times on the naming and lexical decision tasks. Valence was negatively associated with reaction time on both tasks, suggesting that positive words are processed faster. The dimension of concreteness was negatively associated with emotionality and arousal, showing that abstract words are more emotional and arousing than concrete words. We did not detect a statistically significant difference in the processing speed of abstract and concrete words. Also, no significant differences were detected in negative and positive word processing. The results show the expected quadratic relationship between valence and arousal, with arousal highest for positive and negative words and lowest for neutral words. There are no norms for semantic characteristics of words in the Slovene language. The present research contributes significantly to the research on the influence of semantic richness in the processing and recognition of Slovene words. It also provides an incentive for the practical use of norms in adapting foreign psychodiagnostics tools into the Slovene language.
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