Prevailing theoretical accounts consider that automatic and controlled processes are uniformly engaged in memory retrieval across performance of the semantic verbal fluency (SVF) task. We tested this proposal against the alternative, namely that a rapid automatic retrieval, exploiting stable associative structure in the early stages of the performance, is followed by a slower, more executively demanding, retrieval in later stages. Eighty-five healthy adults completed low- and high-demand SVF tasks that were assessed for retrieval rate, response typicality, and inter-response similarity across the performance. Additional measures of executive functioning were collected to estimate individual differences in executive control. We found that decrease in fluency in time was associated with lower typicality and weaker semantic similarity of the responses. Critically, the time-dependent retrieval slowing was steeper in individuals with less efficient interference control, particularly in high-demand SVF tasks. Steeper retrieval slowing was also associated with poorer working-memory capacity. Our findings show that the relative contribution of automatic and controlled processes to semantic retrieval changes with associative sparsity over time and across task demands, and provide implications for the use of SVF tasks in clinical assessment.

主流理论认为，自动和受控过程在语义语言流畅性（SVF）任务的执行过程中一致参与记忆检索。我们针对替代方案测试了该提议，即在表演的早期阶段利用稳定的关联结构进行快速自动检索，然后在后期阶段进行较慢的、执行要求更高的检索。 85 名健康成年人完成了低要求和高要求的 SVF 任务，并对整个表现的检索率、反应典型性和反应间相似性进行了评估。收集了执行功能的其他测量值来估计执行控制的个体差异。我们发现，时间流畅性的下降与响应的典型性较低和语义相似性较弱有关。至关重要的是，在干扰控制效率较低的个体中，与时间相关的检索减慢更为严重，特别是在高要求的 SVF 任务中。检索速度急剧减慢也与工作记忆能力较差有关。我们的研究结果表明，自动和受控过程对语义检索的相对贡献随着时间和任务需求的关联稀疏性而变化，并为 SVF 任务在临床评估中的使用提供了启示。