Sensory modality and the word-frequency effect

Two experiments were conducted to examine whether the word-frequency effect in recognition memory is primarily a modality-dependent phenomenon. In the first experiment, the presentation modality of a target word was varied orthogonally during the input of the test phases. In the second, the subjects were forced to process each input word at the letter-byo letter level, thus minimizing the orthographical differences between the high- and low-frequency words. The word-frequency effect was found in every experimental condition and should be considered a modality-independent phenomenon. A semantically based interpretation of this effect was proposed.     

The word-frequency paradox in recognition

High-frequency words are recalled better than are low-frequency words, but low-frequency words produce higher hit rates in a recognition test than do high-frequency words. Two experiments provided new date on the phenomenon and also evidence relevant to the dual process model of recognition, which postulates that recognition judgments are a function of increments in item familiarity and of item retrievability. First, recall and recognition by subjects who initially performed a single lexical decision task were compared with those of subjects who also gave definitions of high-, low-, and very low-frequency target words. In the second experiment, subjects initially performed either a semantic, elaborative task or an integrative task that focused attention on the physical, perceptual features of the same words. Both experiments showed that extensive elaborative processing results in higher recall and hit rates but lower false alarm rates, whereas word frequency has a monotonic, linear effect on recall and false alarm rates, but a paradoxical, curvilinear effect on hit rates. Elaboration is apparently more effective when the potential availability of meaningful connections with other structures is greater (as for high-frequency words). The results are consistent with the dual process model.     

List composition and the word-frequency effect for recognition memory

The attention/likelihood theory (ALT; M. Glanzer & J. K. Adams, 1990) and the retrieving effectively from memory (REM) theory (R. M. Shiffrin & M. Steyvers, 1997) make different predictions concerning the effect of list composition on word recognition. The predictions were empirically tested for two-alternative forced-choice, yes-no, and ratings recognition tasks. In the current article, the authors found that discrimination of low-frequency words increased as the proportion of high-frequency words studied increased. The results disconfirm the ALT prediction that recognition is insensitive to list composition, and they disconfirm the predictions of the REM model described by R. M. Shiffrin and M. Steyvers (1997). The current authors discuss a slightly modified version of REM that can better predict our findings, and we discuss the challenges the present findings pose for ALT and REM.     

Lexico-semantic structure and the word-frequency effect in recognition memory

The word-frequency effect (WFE) in recognition memory refers to the finding that more rare words are better recognized than more common words. We demonstrate that a familiarity-discrimination model operating on data from a semantic word-association space yields a robust WFE in data on both hit rates and false-alarm rates. Our modeling results suggest that word frequency is encoded in the semantic structure of language, and that this encoding contributes to the WFE observed in item-recognition experiments.     

Word-association responses to time-altered stimuli by schizophrenic adults

This research addressed the relationship between the speed of presentation of stimuli through the auditory and visual modalities and the number of syntagmatic and paradigmatic word-association responses of 49 chronic undifferentiated schizophrenic adults. In word-association tests administered to subjects stimuli were balanced for frequency of occurrence in written English language (frequent, infrequent), word length (long, short), abstraction level (low, medium, high), and part of speech (noun, verb, adjective). The words were presented auditorily at normal speed (equivalent to 10 phonemes per second) and at half speed (equivalent to 5 phonemes per second) speech. Words were also presented visually, using a tachistoscope, at extended fixation speed (equivalent to 1,000 msec.) and at sweep speed (equivalent to 10 msec.). More paradigmatic responses occurred on word stimuli if nouns, long, and frequently occurring presented auditorily; and if concrete, nouns, and presented slowly and visually. Results were compared to previously reported data for aphasic and normal adults, and differentiating features and clinical implications were discussed.     

Quantitative scores of normal and abnormal subjects on Initial-letter Word-association Test.

The quotient of the mean quantitative score on Initial-letter Word-association Test for 193 normal subjects was significantly higher than the quotient of the mean quantitative score of 44 abnormal (psychotic) subjects. This is interpreted as meaning that, in general, the normal subjects have predominantly a positive attitude towards their surrounding world in contradistinction to the abnormal subjects whose attitude was predominantly negative, ambivalent, and repressive. On the other hand, the mean of the quotients of the quantitative scores of the 44 abnormal subjects was higher than the mean of the quotients of the quantitative scores of the normal subjects which suggests increased oral tendencies of the abnormal subjects expressed much as the unwarranted optimism of small children.     

Determinants of the word-frequency effect in recognition memory

Possible determinants of the word-frequency effect (WFE), that is, the finding that lowfrequency (LF) words are recognized more accurately than high-frequency (HF) words, are evaluated. Three studies examined the view that, since HF words have more meanings than LF words, it is less likely that the word sense tagged at time of presentation will be accessed at time of test and a correct response will be made. To ensure the same word sense was accessed at time of presentation and time of test in the case of both HF and LF words, sentence contexts used during presentation were combined with cuing procedures at time of test. Recognition performance improved, but the WFE was unaltered even when the identical sentence context was used during presentation and test. A fourth study considered GlarLzer and Bowles’ (19761 suggestion that associates of both HF and LF words tend to be HF words that are (1)likely to be activated and derivatively encoded during presentation and (2) likely to include a number of distractors from the recognition test sufficient to impair performance on HF words. Analysis of associative responses of subjects to HF and LF words, and the errors they made, support strongly such an interference-type interpretation of the WFE.     

Distributional analyses in auditory lexical decision: Neighborhood density and word-frequency effects

In the present article, the effects of phonological neighborhood density and word frequency in spoken word recognition were examined using distributional analyses of response latencies in auditory lexical decision. A density × frequency interaction was observed in mean latencies; frequency effects were larger for low-density words than for high-density words. Distributional analyses further revealed that for low-density words, frequency effects were reflected in both distributional shifting and skewing, whereas for high-density words, frequency effects were purely mediated by distributional skewing. The results suggest that word frequency plays a role in early auditory word recognition only when there is relatively little competition between similar-sounding words, and that frequency effects in high-density words reflect postlexical checking.     

The word-frequency paradox for recall/recognition occurs for pictures

A yes-no recognition task and two recall tasks were conducted using pictures of high and low familiarity ratings. Picture familiarity had analogous effects to word frequency, and replicated the word-frequency paradox in recall and recognition. Low-familiarity pictures were more recognizable than high-familiarity pictures, pure lists of high-familiarity pictures were more recallable than pure lists of low-familiarity pictures, and there was no effect of familiarity for mixed lists. These results are consistent with the predictions of the Search of Associative Memory (SAM) model.     

Effects of implicit memory on explicit recall: Set size and word-frequency effects

PIER was designed to explain findings related to tasks involving an encoding phase and a testing phase in which retrieval cues prime the recovery of what has been encoded. The model assumes that retrieval cues initiate the sampling of associated memories linked to the encoded information and that sampled memories are subjected to a recognition check to determine whether they meet criteria specified by the purpose of the retrieval. The model explains how the number of implicitly activated associates linked to a studied word affects its later recovery and predicts that words infrequently experienced will be recovered with greater likelihood than words frequently experienced. This prediction was tested and confirmed in two experiments in which the associative set size and the frequency of the studied words were manipulated. Implications for the study of implicit memory are considered.     

Evidence for an activation locus of the word-frequency effect in lexical decision

The authors report a lexical decision experiment designed to determine whether activation is the locus of the word-frequency effect. K. R. Paap and L. S. Johansen (1994) reported that word frequency did not affect lexical decisions when exposure durations were brief; they accounted for this by proposing that data-limited conditions prevented late-occurring verification processes. Subsequently, P. A. Allen, A. F. Smith, M. Lien, T. A. Weber, and D. J. Madden (1997) and K. R. Paap, L. S. Johansen, E. Chun, and P. Vonnahme (2000) reported additional evidence that word-frequency effects do and do not have an activation locus, respectively. The authors further tested this issue in a lexical decision experiment using data-limited procedures--predicted by verification models to eliminate word-frequency effects. The authors observed word-frequency effects using individually determined exposure durations that were only 1 screen cycle longer than the exposure duration that yielded chance performance. Word-frequency effects persisted even when an adjusted measure of performance was used.     

A dissociative word-frequency X levels-of-processing interaction in episodic recognition and lexical decision tasks

The effects of levels-of-processing and word frequency were directly compared in three different memory tests. In the episodic recognition test, the subjects decided whether or not a word or a pronounceable nonword had been previously studied. In the two lexical decision tests with either pronounceable or unpronounceable nonwords as distractors, the subjects decided whether a test item was a word or a nonword. There were four main results: (1) in all three tests, reaction times (RTs) in response to studied words were faster if they had received semantic rather than rhyme processing during study; (2) in the episodic recognition test, RTs were faster for low- than for high-frequency words; in both lexical decision tests, RTs were faster for high- than for low-frequency words, though less so when the nonword distractors were unpronounceable; (3) prior study facilitated lexical decisions more in response to low- than to high-frequency words, thereby attenuating the word-frequency effect, but more so when the nonword distractors were pronounceable; (4) in the lexical decision test with pronounceable nonword distractors, relative to prior rhyme processing, prior semantic processing facilitated performance more for high- than for low-frequency words, whereas the opposite was the case in the episodic recognition test. Discussion focused on the relationship of these results to current views of the mechanisms by which (1) word frequency and depth of processing affect performance in implicit and explicit memory tests, and (2) repetition priming attenuates word-frequency effects for lexical decisions.