Contrasting effects of age of acquisition and word frequency on auditory and visual lexical decision

In four experiments, we examined the effects of frequency and age of acquisition on auditory and visual lexical decision. Word frequency affected visual, but not auditory, lexical decision speed (Experiments 1 and 3). Age of acquisition affected lexical decision speed in both modalities (Experiments 2 and 4). We suggest that previous reports of effects of frequency on auditory lexical decision may be due to a confounding of frequency with age of acquisition, and we discuss the implications of these findings for theories of auditory and visual word recognition.     

Modeling lexical decision and word naming as a retrieval process.

Argues that rule-like phenomena in naming and lexical decision reflect the collapsing of information that occurs during retrieval from the lexicon, and that complex patterns in performance reflect the pattern of correlation that exists in the reader's lexicon rather than mapping rules wired into, or learned by, the processing apparatus. By using a lexicon built to scale, it is shown that simple retrieval operations applied to a large corpus of words correctly predict an interaction of word frequency by spelling-to-sound regularity in naming, a frequency main effect in lexical decision, sensitivity to orthographically defined syllable-like structures in lexical decision, and an interaction of number of syllables with word frequency in naming. To illustrate their position, the authors sketch a model called LEX and show that the model can account for several lexical-decision and naming phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age of acquisition, word frequency, and familiarity on object recognition and naming in dementia

116 patients with established dementia completed a short confrontation naming test. Naming latency correlated -.69 (Kendall tau, p < .001) with general frequency of the name of the object. Recognition failure correlated .53 with age of acquisition of the name and -.58 with familiarity of the object. These and other correlations are not in accord with recent findings from studies of normal people. More extensive studies of these relationships in dementia, where disorders of recognition and naming are common, would be informative.     

Age of acquisition and word frequency effects in picture naming: A dual-task investigation.

In 2 experiments, the authors explored age of acquisition (AoA) and word frequency (WF) effects in picture naming using the psychological refractory period paradigm. In Experiment 1, participants named a picture and then, a short time later, categorized 1 of 3 possible auditory tones as high, medium, or low. Both AoA (Experiment 1A) and WF (Experiment 1B) effects propagated onto tone discrimination reaction times (RTs), with the effects of AoA being stronger. In Experiment 2, the to-be-named picture followed the auditory tone by a varying interval. As the interval decreased, picture naming RTs increased. The relationship between the interval and AoA (Experiment 2A) was reliably underadditive; AoA effects were eliminated at the shortest interval. In contrast, WF (Experiment 2B) was additive with the effects of the interval. These results demonstrate an empirical dissociation between AoA and WF effects. AoA affects processing stages that precede those that are sensitive to WF. The implications for theories of picture naming are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Not all negative words slow down lexical decision and naming speed: Importance of word arousal.

Previously the authors (see record 2006-04603-006) analyzed sets of words used in emotion Stroop experiments and found little evidence of automatic vigilance, for example, slower lexical decision time (LDT) or naming speed for negative words after controlling for lexical features. If there is a slowdown evoked by word negativity, most studies to date overestimate the effect because word negativity is often confounded with lexical features that promote slower word recognition. Estes and Adelman (this issue; see record 2008-09984-001) analyze a new set of words, controlling for important lexical features, and find a small but significant effect for word negativity. Moreover, they conclude the effect is categorical. The authors analyze the same data set but include the arousal value of each word. The authors find nonlinear and interaction effects in predicting LDT and naming speed. Not all negative words produce the generic slowdown. Paradoxically, negative words that are moderate to low on arousal produce more LDT slowing than negative words higher on arousal. This finding presents a theoretical and empirical challenge to researchers wishing to understand the boundaries of the automatic vigilance effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional resource demands of visual word recognition in naming and lexical decisions.

Attentional demands of lexical access were assessed with dual-task methodology. Ss performed an auditory probe task alone (single-task) or combined (dual-task) with either a lexical decision or a naming task. In Exp 1, probe performance showed a decrement from single- to dual-task conditions during recognition of words in both lexical decision and naming tasks. In addition, decrements of probe performance were larger during processing of low-frequency compared with high-frequency words in both of the word recognition tasks. Exp 2 showed that the time course of frequency-sensitive demands was similar across lexical decision and naming tasks and that attention is required early in the word recognition sequence. The results support the assumption that lexical access is both frequency sensitive and attention demanding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Separate effects of word frequency and age of acquisition in recognition and recall.

Three experiments investigated word frequency and age of acquisition (AoA) effects in recognition and recall. Experiments 1 and 2 used the "remember-know" procedure developed by J. M. Gardiner (1988). In Experiment 1, recognition performance was higher for low-frequency words than for high-frequency words and higher for late-acquired words than for early-acquired words, but only in "remember" responses. Experiment 2 replicated the AoA effect by using a different set of early- and late-acquired words. Experiment 3 found advantages for low-frequency and late-acquired words in recall, but only when words were presented in mixed lists. The frequency effect was reversed, and the AoA effect was eliminated, when participants studied pure lists. Findings were attributed to the more distinctive encoding of low-frequency and late-acquired words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of polysemy in lexical decision and naming: An alternative to lexical access accounts.

The effects of polysemy (number of meanings) and word frequency were examined in lexical decision and naming tasks. Polysemy effects were observed in both tasks. In the lexical decision task, high- and low-frequency words produced identical polysemy effects. In the naming task, however, polysemy interacted with frequency, with polysemy effects being limited to low-frequency words. When degraded stimuli were used in both tasks, the interaction appeared not only in naming but also in lexical decision. Because stimulus degradation also produced an effect of spelling-sound regularity in the lexical decision task, the different relationships between polysemy and frequency appear to be due to whether responding was based primarily on orthographic or phonological codes. As such, the effects of polysemy seem to be due to the nature of task-specific processes. An explanation in terms of M. S. Seidenberg and J. L. McClelland's (see record 1990-03520-001) and D. C. Plaut and J. L. McClelland's (1993) parallel distributed processing models is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of word frequency for Japanese Kana and Kanji words in naming and lexical decision: Can the dual-route model save the lexical-selection account?

The effects of word frequency were examined for Japanese Kanji and Katakana words in 6 experiments. The sizes of frequency effects were comparable for Kanji and Katakana words in the standard lexical decision task. In the standard naming task, the frequency effect for Katakana words was significantly smaller than that for Kanji words. These results were consistent with the lexical-selection account of frequency effects offered by dual-route models. Contrary to this account, however, frequency effects were smaller for Katakana words than for Kanji words in go/no-go naming tasks, in which participants were asked to name a stimulus aloud only if it was a word. This Frequency?×?Script Type interaction was not the result of using a go/no-go task because the interaction disappeared in the go/no-go lexical decision task. These results pose a strong challenge for the lexical-selection account of frequency effects offered by dual-route models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic priming and the word repetition effect in a lexical decision task.

Two experiments were conducted with 35 university students and community residents to examine the relationship between semantic priming and the word-repetition effect in lexical decisions. Although it might be expected that these phenomena are caused by the operation of similar memory processes, given current models of word recognition, the relationship between them has not been empirically investigated. In the present study, the persistance of both effects was observed, and it was found that while facilitation due to semantic priming persisted for only a short time, the word repetition effect was quite strong and long-lasting. (French abstract) (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of neighborhood frequency in reading and lexical decision

To test the effect of the frequency of orthographic "neighbors" on the identification of a printed word, two sets of words were constructed (equated on the number of neighbors, word frequency, and number of letters); in one set, the words had no higher frequency neighbors and in the other set, they had at least one higher frequency neighbor. Identification was slower for the latter set. In Experiment 1, this was indexed by longer response times in a lexical decision task. In Experiment 2, the target words were embedded in sentences, and slower identification was indexed by disruptions in reading: more regressions back to the words with higher frequency neighbors and longer fixations on the text immediately following these words. The latter results indicate that a higher frequency neighbor affects relatively late stages of lexical access, an interpretation consistent with both activation-verification and interactive activation models.     

Polysemy effects in word naming.

The present research examined the influence of polysemy on word naming. Thirty psychology students served as Ss. Ss named 80 words in an online naming condition followed by a delayed naming condition. For online naming, Ss fixated on a centrally presented asterisk and initiated a trial by pressing a microswitch. The asterisk disappeared immediately and the stimulus word appeared following a 600 msec delay. For the delayed-naming condition, the asterisk disappeared and was replaced 600 msec later by a word that remained on the monitor for 250 msec. Naming was faster to polysemous than to nonpolysemous words. Moreover, polysemy interacted with word frequency such that the facilitative effects of polysemy were isolated to naming of low-frequency words. These findings are discussed with reference to the distributed models of M. E. J. Masson (1991, 1995; R. Borowsky and Masson, 1996; Masson and Borowsky, 1995), A. H. Kawamoto et al (1994), and other relevant studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Syllabic priming in lexical decision and naming tasks: The syllable congruency effect re-examined in French.

This study investigated the role of the syllable in visual recognition of French words. The syllable congruency procedure was combined with masked priming in the lexical-decision task (Experiments 1 and 3) and the naming task (Experiment 2). Target words were preceded by a nonword prime sharing the first three letters that either corresponded to the syllable (congruent condition), or not (incongruent condition). When primes were displayed for 67 ms, similar results were found in both the lexical decision and the naming tasks. Consonant-vowel targets such as BA.LANCE were recognised more rapidly in the congruent condition than in the incongruent and control conditions, while consonant-vowel-consonant targets such as BAL.CON were recognised more rapidly in the congruent and incongruent conditions than in the control condition. When a 43-ms SOA was used in the lexical-decision task, no significant priming effect was obtained. The results are discussed in an interactive-activation model incorporating syllable units. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociating word frequency and age of acquisition: The klein effect revived (and reversed).

The Klein effect (G. S. Klein, 1964) refers to the finding that high-frequency words produce greater interference in a color-naming task than low-frequency words. The present study used the Klein effect to investigate the relationship between frequency and age of acquisition (AoA) by measuring their influence on color naming. Two experiments showed reliable effects of frequency (though in the opposite direction to that reported by Klein) but no effects of AoA. Experiment 1 produced a dissociation between frequency and AoA when manipulated orthogonally. Experiment 2 produced the same dissociation using different stimuli. In contrast, both variables reliably influenced word naming. These findings are inconsistent with the view that frequency and AoA are 2 aspects of a single underlying mechanism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical familiarity and processing efficiency: Individual differences in naming, lexical decision, and semantic categorization.

College students were separated into 2 groups (high and low) on the basis of 3 measures: subjective familiarity ratings of words, self-reported language experiences, and a test of vocabulary knowledge. Three experiments were conducted to determine if the groups also differed in visual word naming, lexical decision, and semantic categorization. High Ss were consistently faster than low Ss in naming visually presented words. They were also faster and more accurate in making difficult lexical decisions and in rejecting homophone foils in semantic categorization. Taken together, the results demonstrate that Ss who differ in lexical familiarity also differ in processing efficiency. The relationship between processing efficiency and working memory accounts of individual differences in language processing is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pseudohomophone effects in lexical decision: Still a challenge for current word recognition models.

Computational models that implement a serial mechanism of phonological assembly predict interactions between the size of the pseudohomophone (PsH) effect and stimulus length. Models with frequency-sensitive word representations predict baseword frequency effects. These predictions were tested in a lexical-decision task. The results showed constant PsH effects across different word lengths (in favor of parallel phonological activation) and baseword frequency effects (in favor of frequency-sensitive representations). However, the baseword frequency effect was opposite of what the models predicted. This result is most easily accommodated by models that assume an orthographic verification mechanism. The plausibility of such a mechanism was further supported by the results of 2 additional experiments investigating the effects of response speed and spelling probability (feedback consistency) on the size of the PsH effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homophone effects in lexical decision.

The role of phonology in word recognition was investigated in 6 lexical-decision experiments involving homophones (e.g., MAID-MADE). The authors' goal was to determine whether homophone effects arise in the lexical-decision task, and, if so, in what situations they arise, with a specific focus on the question of whether the presence of pseudohomophone foils (e.g., BRANE) causes homophone effects to be eliminated because of strategic deemphasis of phonological processing. All 6 experiments showed significant homophone effects, which were not eliminated by the presence of pseudohomophone foils. The authors propose that homophone effects in lexical decision are due to the nature of the feedback from phonology to orthography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the additive effects of stimulus quality and word frequency in lexical decision: Evidence for opposing interactive influences revealed by RT distributional analyses.

The joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency in lexical decision were examined in 4 experiments as a function of nonword type (legal nonwords, e.g., BRONE, vs. pseudohomophones, e.g., BRANE). When familiarity was a viable dimension for word-nonword discrimination, as when legal nonwords were used, additive effects of stimulus quality and word frequency were observed in both means and distributional characteristics of the response-time distributions. In contrast, when the utility of familiarity was undermined by using pseudohomophones, additivity was observed in the means but not in distributional characteristics. Specifically, opposing interactive effects in the underlying distribution were observed, producing apparent additivity in means. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that, when familiarity is deemphasized in lexical decision, cascaded processing between letter and word levels is in play, whereas, when familiarity is a viable dimension for word-nonword discrimination, processing is discrete. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic priming and sensitivity in lexical decision.

M. J. Farah (1989) argued that qualitatively different attentional mechanisms underlie perceptual and semantic priming. The crux of this argument is her claim that semantic priming, unlike perceptual priming, does not alter sensitivity. It is suggested that the evidential base for this claim is weak, and 4 experiments are reported in which semantic priming altered sensitivity. In Exps 1, 3, and 4, lexical decision was reliably primed by associates, and signal detection analyses indicated that both sensitivity and bias were affected. In Exp 2, significant semantic priming was also demonstrated with a 2-alternative forced choice paradigm in which performance is independent of criterion bias. These results challenge the claim that semantic priming does not alter sensitivity. The broader implications of these results are considered for attentional mechanisms and for J. A. Fodor's (1983, 1985) modularity claims. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors influencing word naming in younger and older adults.

The present study examined age differences in the influence of 3 factors that previous research has shown to influence word-naming performance. The influence of word frequency, orthographic length, and orthographic neighborhood measures was examined using large-scale regression analyses on the naming latencies for 2,820 words. Thirty-one younger adults and 29 older adults named all of these words, and age differences in the influence of these factors were examined. The results revealed that all 3 factors predicted reliable amounts of variance in word-naming latencies for both groups. However, older adults showed a larger influence of word frequency and reduced influences of orthographic length and orthographic neighborhood density compared with younger adults. Overall, these results suggest that lexical level factors increase in influence in older adults whereas sublexical factors decrease in influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)