In visual-world experiments, stimulus pictures and names are sometimes introduced in preview sessions. To determine whether preview influences subsequent phonological competition, we paired, in a German study, target pictures (glider, 'Segelflugzeug') with competitor pictures with two synonymous names (pirate, 'Pirat' and 'Seeräuber') and two unrelated distractor pictures. Preview either introduced pictures and their subordinate names or just pictures. If subordinate names ('Seeräuber') of competitor pictures are automatically activated during spoken-word recognition, we predicted more looks to competitor than to distractor pictures due to phonological similarity with the target, even when subordinate names were not previewed. If, however, preview modulates the availability of subordinate names, either by inhibiting dominant names or by priming subordinate names, the magnitude of the competition should vary with preview. In two experiments, we found that subordinate names competed with target names even without preview, although previewing subordinate names modulated the magnitude of the competition
