Age of acquisition, word frequency, and the role of phonology in the lexical decision task

In five experiments, we examined the respective roles of word age of acquisition (AoA) and frequency in the lexical decision task. The two variables were manipulated orthogonally (while controlling for concreteness and length) in fully factorial designs. Experiment 1 was a conventional lexical decision task, and Experiments 2-5 involved various attempts to interfere with reliance upon phonology. In Experiment 2, only orthographically illegal nonwords were used; in Experiment 3, pseudohomophone nonwords; in Experiment 4, articulatory suppression by the recitation of a nursery rhyme; and in Experiment 5, articulatory suppression by the repetition of a single word. The same basic pattern of results was observed in all experiments: There were main effects of both AoA and frequency, which interacted in such a way that the AoA effect was larger for low- than for high-frequency words. Although the AoA effect was reduced by manipulations intended to interfere with phonological processing, the manipulations did not eliminate the effect. The results are discussed in terms of current models of reading in which it is proposed that AoA has its primary effect on the retrieval of lexical phonology, which appears to be consulted automatically in the lexical decision task.     

False recognition following study of semantically related lists presented in jumbled word form

Three experiments explored a jumbled word effect in false recognition. Lists of theme-related items were presented in word or nonword form. Results indicated that critical lures semantically related to studied items were falsely recognised regardless of whether they were presented as words or nonwords. High false recognition rates to either SLEEP or SELEP following study of an appropriate theme list of items in nonword form should only occur if nonwords are recoded at study. With study conditions conducive to recoding, jumbled words induced false recognitions based on semantic associations among their respective base words. Disrupting a recoding process by creating "difficult" letter rearrangements for jumbled words (Experiment 2) appeared to eliminate the false recognition effect. In Experiment 3, presentation durations ranged from 110 ms to 880 ms. Although there was little evidence of a semantic false recognition effect at the fastest presentation rate, the brief durations appeared to be effective in eliminating the effect when items were studied in nonword form. These results appear to be consistent with an encoding activation/retrieval monitoring model.     

False recognition following study of semantically related lists presented in jumbled word form

Three experiments explored a jumbled word effect in false recognition. Lists of theme-related items were presented in word or nonword form. Results indicated that critical lures semantically related to studied items were falsely recognised regardless of whether they were presented as words or nonwords. High false recognition rates to either SLEEP or SELEP following study of an appropriate theme list of items in nonword form should only occur if nonwords are recoded at study. With study conditions conducive to recoding, jumbled words induced false recognitions based on semantic associations among their respective base words. Disrupting a recoding process by creating “difficult” letter rearrangements for jumbled words (Experiment 2) appeared to eliminate the false recognition effect. In Experiment 3, presentation durations ranged from 110 ms to 880 ms. Although there was little evidence of a semantic false recognition effect at the fastest presentation rate, the brief durations appeared to be effective in eliminating the effect when items were studied in nonword form. These results appear to be consistent with an encoding activation/retrieval monitoring model.     

The generation effect extended: Memory enhancement for generation cues

The generation effect is the greater memorability of a response that is actively produced (e.g., in answering a question from memory) than one that is more passively produced (as in reading the answer). The present three experiments addressed a question that is critical to the theoretical interpretation of the generation effect: Is memory enhanced for the cues that are used to elicit generated responses? Using incidental learning procedures, Experiments 1 and 2 gave an affirmative answer (although the effect was substantially weaker than the generation effect for responses). Enhancement of memory for generation cues was observed both in a within-subject/within-list design (reading and generation items within the same trial blocks; Experiment 1) and in a between-subjects design (reading and generation tasks for different groups of subjects; Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, memory enhancement for generation cues was used to produce a previously unobtained result—a generation effect for nonsense responses under incidental learning conditions. These findings provide critical evidence required by theories that interpret the generation effect in terms of enhanced processing of the cue-response item.     

Intralist interference and imagery in deaf and hearing children

Children from populations lacking verbal proficiency were given an interference list of paired associates (high within-list stimulus similarity) or 1 of 2 noninterference lists (low stimulus similarity), under a standard control condition (pictorial items side by side) or an imagery condition (items depicted as interacting). In Experiment I, with deaf children 6–10 years old, the imagery condition facilitated performance on the interference list, mainly by reducing generalization errors. There was significant interference only in the control condition. Unexpectedly, imagery failed to improve performance on the noninterference lists. In Experiment II, with hearing children 4–5 years old, there was significant interference in both the imagery and the control condition. Imagery significantly facilitated performance in all lists, but did not reduce interference, apparently because it did not reduce generalization errors. Thus, imagery (a) facilitates performance by increasing the memorability of stimulus-response associations, and (b) reduces interference by reducing confusion among similar stimuli.     

Explaining the persistence of false memories: a proposal based on associative activation and thematic extraction

This study aimed to analyse the effect of retention intervals on associative and thematic false memories. Two experiments, using two types of critical items that were either associatively or thematically related to studied material, were conducted. In both experiments, one group of participants performed a recognition test immediately after the presentation of lists, and another group performed the task one week later. In Experiment 1, the recognition test consisted of pairs of items with four response alternatives (both items had been presented, only the left item had been presented, only the right item had been presented or none of the items had been presented). Critical items were also manipulated so that they were either presented in or absent from the list. In Experiment 2, a standard recognition test that differed in the mode of presentation was used: self-paced or speeded response. Both experiments showed that associative critical items were more recognised than thematic critical items in the immediate condition. However, whereas associative critical items decayed after a one-week delay, thematic critical items were similarly recognised at both retention intervals. The findings of the present study suggest that each type of process – associative and thematic – behave differently over time.     

The influence of phoneme position overlap on the phonemic similarity effect in nonword recall

The current research examined the predictions that short-term memory models generate for the phonological similarity effect, when similarity was defined in different ways. Three serial recall experiments with consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) nonwords are reported, where the position of the phonemes that list items shared was manipulated (i.e., shared vowel and final consonant [_VC; Experiment 1], initial consonant and vowel [CV_; Experiment 2], or the two consonants [C_C; Experiment 3]. The results show that the position of common phonemes in nonwords has differential effects on order and item information. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research into the effect of phonemic similarity on nonword recall, and modifications to current short-term memory models are proposed.     

Investigating the subjective reports of rejection processes in the word frequency mirror effect

We sought to systematically investigate how participants subjectively classify the basis of their recognition memory judgments for low and high word frequency items. We found that participants more often reported rejection processes related to the increased perceived memorability for unstudied low word frequency items (relative to high word frequency items), rather than classifying their decision on a lack of familiarity. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern and demonstrated context variability and word frequency independently influenced the subjective classifications for correct rejections. Results of Experiment 3 revealed that these differences are dependent upon having experience with both low and high frequency items. Overall, these data suggest participants’ rejection of low frequency items is more strongly related to judgments of perceived memorability, but only when they are presented in the context of high frequency items. The results are discussed in relation to distinctiveness and expected memorability.     

Memorability judgments for high- and low-frequency words

Five experiments were conducted in order to examine subjects’ judgments of the memorability of high- (HF) and low-frequency (LF) words in the context of a recognition memory task. In Experiment 1, the subjects were provided study/test experience with a list of HF and LF words prior to making memorability judgments for a new list of HF and LF items. The findings were consistent with previous evidence (Greene & Thapar, 1994; Wixted, 1992) suggesting that subjects are not explicitly aware of the greater recognition memorability of LF words. Experiments 2–5 embedded the memorability judgment task within the recognition test itself. In these experiments, the subjects consistently gave higher memorability ratings to LF items. The contrast between the pattern of results found when the subjects made their judgments at the time of list presentation (Experiment 1) and that when they made their judgments during the recognition test (Experiments 2–5) is consistent with recent evidence that even seemingly highly related metamnemonic judgments (e.g., ease of learning judgments vs. judgments of learning for the same items) may be based on very different factors if they occur at different points in the study/test cycle. The present findings are also consistent with the possibility that very rapid retrieval of memorability information for HF and LF words may affect recognition decisions and may contribute to the recognition memory word frequency effect.     

The influence of phoneme position overlap on the phonemic similarity effect in nonword recall

The current research examined the predictions that short-term memory models generate for the phonological similarity effect, when similarity was defined in different ways. Three serial recall experiments with consonant–vowel–consonant (CVC) nonwords are reported, where the position of the phonemes that list items shared was manipulated (i.e., shared vowel and final consonant [_VC; Experiment 1], initial consonant and vowel [CV_; Experiment 2], or the two consonants [C_C; Experiment 3]. The results show that the position of common phonemes in nonwords has differential effects on order and item information. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research into the effect of phonemic similarity on nonword recall, and modifications to current short-term memory models are proposed.     

Recall order determines the magnitude of directed forgetting in the within-participants list method

In three experiments, we investigated the effect of recall order on directed forgetting when the within-participants list method is used. Experiment 1 showed that participants tend to recall to-be-remembered (R) items before to-be-forgotten (F) items when they can recall items in any order. In Experiment 2, recall order was manipulated (F-R or R-F). The results showed that only the R-F order led to directed forgetting. Finally, in Experiment 3, recall order was also manipulated, and half of the participants were explicitly instructed to use a relational strategy when both F and R items were presented. Again, only the R-F order led to directed forgetting. These results demonstrate that directed forgetting under the list method hinges on the output order in which participants recall the F and R information. Thus, output order should be taken into account by researchers investigating specific mechanisms that lead to directed forgetting.     

Metacognition influences item-method directed forgetting

In 4 experiments, we examined whether metacognitive beliefs about item memorability influence item-method directed forgetting. In Experiment 1, participants studied loud and quiet items, which were subsequently cued as to-be-remembered (TBR) or to-be-forgotten (TBF). Typically, the volume of stimuli does not influence recall, although loud items are judged as more memorable than quiet items (Rhodes & Castel, 2009). In contrast, we found a recall advantage for loud items in directed forgetting, although this was observed for TBR items but not TBF items. The loud item advantage disappeared in Experiment 2, when we eliminated all TBF trials and instead inserted additional trials during which participants could engage in extra rehearsal of earlier presented items. In Experiments 3 and 4, a recall advantage for loud items was observed again when items were assigned a mixture of positive and negative values, but it did not emerge when items were assigned graded positive values. Overall, the results showed that the recall advantage for loud items emerges only in response to the need to forget some items. We propose 2 mechanisms to account for these results-either participants select to rehearse loud items as a controlled strategy that allows them to forget some items, or they have an unconscious preference for loud items that emerges only in response to the need to forget. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The effects of prosodic features and wordlikeness on nonword repetition performance among young Japanese children1

This study investigated how prosodic aspects and wordlikeness of nonwords affect young Japanese children's repetition of nonwords. We contrasted two conditions in which a nonword comprised of two morae was pronounced with and without a small pause between the two morae. We also manipulated accent patterns of presentation of nonwords. The results indicated that the presence of a small pause in a nonword had a facilitating effect on the repetition of nonwords. The advantage of high‐wordlike sequences over low‐wordlike sequences was observed only when the sequence was presented without a pause. In contrast, the effect of accent patterns of presentation interacted with vocabulary sizes of children. These results were interpreted in terms of the framework of phonological working memory and the segmentation of the spoken Japanese language.     

Associative strength effects in the lexical decision task

Four experiments explore the role of automatic and attentional processing in producing strength effects in a lexical decision task. Experiment I manipulated the relative proportion of related and unrelated pairs, the stimulus-onset-asynchrony (SOA), and the strength of the prime-target relationship. Results indicated that strength was independent of the proportion of related and unrelated pairs and SOA. Experiment 2 manipulated the relative proportion of strong and weak related pairs and the strength of the prime-target relationship at a relatively long SOA interval (500 msec). Results showed that the strength effect was present when more strong than weak pairs were presented, and it was absent when the stimulus list contained more weak than strong pairs. Experiment 3 replicated the more weak pairs condition of Experiment 2 but with a short SOA interval (100 msec) and showed that the strength effect was found regardless of the large number of weak related pairs presented. Experiment 4 manipulated strength of the prime-target relationship and proportion of strong and weak pairs but introducing a neutral prime condition and a longer SOA interval (1000 msec). Results are discussed within a two-process model (Posner & Snyder, 1975) postulating that the strength effect at short SOAs is due to automatic processes, whereas at long SOAs it is due to the influence of attentional processes.     

Repetition priming in an auditory lexical decision task: Effects of lexical status

The effect of lexical status on the time course of repetition priming was examined in an auditory lexical decision task. Words and nonwords were repeated at lags of 0, 1, 4, and 8 items (Experiment 1A) and 0, 2, 4, and 8 items (Experiment 1B). The pattern of repetition effects differed for words and nonwords in that repetition priming for nonwords at lag 0 was significantly greater than for words. The magnitude of this effect decreased when one or more items intervened. A second experiment, replicating Experiment 1A with visual presentation, clarified that the greater magnitude of repetition priming for nonwords at lag 0 is unique to the auditory modality. This finding suggests that in the course of forming a stable perceptual representation, the details of the acoustic/phonological information of an auditory stimulus are more readily available for nonwords than for words. The capacity to carry this phonological information is limited, however, and can only be maintained until another stimulus is encountered.     

The priming of word associations: A levels-of-processing approach

Four experiments are reported in which the magnitude of the associative-priming effect is manipulated by varying both the experimental task and the conditions within a given task. The between-task manipulation involved a comparison of priming effects in length categorization on the one hand and lexical decision on the other. The within-task manipulation involved varying the type of letter strings presented as the nonword stimuli in lexical decisions. Pseudowords and two types of orthographically illegal letter strings—namely, consonant strings and random letter strings—served as nonwords. Finally, the effect of varying the proportion of pseudowords to illegal nonwords across four sets of experimental materials was investigated. On the whole, these within-and between-task manipulations turned out to be very effective ways of affecting the size of the associative-priming effect. Also, the size of the lexicality effect (the difference between the RTs to word and nonword stimuli) varied systematically with these within-and between-task manipulations. The results are discussed in relation to both Shulman and Davison's (1977) parallel-processing model and Balota and Chumbley's (1984) account of lexical decision.     

Letter detection with rapid serial visual presentation: evidence against word superiority at feature extraction

Letter detection typically is faster and more accurate in words than nonwords. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 tested the robustness of the word superiority effect using rapid serial visual presentation of words or nonwords. Letter detection was better in words even when the six-letter items were presented one after the other at rapid rates, up to about 10 items per second. At yet faster rates, however, the word advantage vanished. Experiments 4 and 5 tested whether word context aids feature extraction or the subsequent interpretation stage. In Experiment 4, subjects had to discriminate whether a mutilated A or mutilated E was present; in Experiment 5, subjects had merely to decide whether a mutilated A was present. Mutilation discrimination in Experiment 4 was better on words than nonwords; once a mutilation was detected, the word context revealed whether it was an A or an E. Mutilation detection in Experiment 5 did not differ between words and nonwords, though on words there was a response bias toward not reporting a mutilation as present. The results indicate that familiarity aids the interpretation process alone: Letters are not seen any more clearly or rapidly in words, but are simply filled in or inferred more accurately from the familiar context.     

Enhanced recognition and recall of new words in 7- and 12-year-olds following a period of offline consolidation

Recent studies of adults have found evidence for consolidation effects in the acquisition of novel words, but little is known about whether such effects are found developmentally. In two experiments, we familiarized children with novel nonwords (e.g., biscal) and tested their recognition and recall of these items. In Experiment 1, 7-year-olds were then retested on either the same day or the following day to examine changes in performance after a short delay compared with a longer delay that included sleep. Experiment 2 used two age groups (7- and 12-year-olds), with all participants being retested 24h later. The 12-year-olds accurately recognized the novel nonwords immediately after exposure, as did the 7-year-olds in Experiment 2 (but not in Experiment 1), suggesting generally good initial rates of learning. Experiment 1 revealed improved recognition of the novel nonwords after both short (3- to 4-h) and longer (24-h) delays. In contrast, recall was initially poor but showed improvements only when children were retested 24h later, not after a 3- to 4-h delay. Similar improvements were observed in both age groups despite better overall performance in 12-year-olds. We argue that children, like adults, exhibit offline consolidation effects on the formation of novel phonological representations.     

Now you see it, now you don't: repetition blindness for nonwords

Repetition blindness (RB) for nonwords has been found in some studies, but not in others. The authors propose that the discrepancy in results is fueled by participant strategy; specifically, when rapid serial visual presentation lists are short and participants are explicitly informed that some trials will contain repetitions, participants are able to use partial orthographic information to correctly guess repetitions on repetition trials while avoiding spurious repetition reports on control trials. The authors first replicated V. Coltheart and R. Langdon's (2003) finding of RB for words but repetition advantage for nonwords (Experiment 1). When all participants were encouraged to utilize partial information in a same/different matching task along with an identification task, a repetition advantage was observed for both words and nonwords (Experiment 2). When guessing of repetitions was made detectable by including non-identical but orthographically similar items in the experiments, the repetition advantage disappeared; instead, RB was found for both words and nonwords (Experiments 3 and 4). Finally, when experiments did not contain any identical items, participants almost never reported repetitions, and reliable RB was found for orthographically similar words and nonwords (Experiments 5 and 6).     

Further explorations of the consistency effect in word and nonword pronunciation

Three experiments explored the consistency effect in word and nonword pronunciation. All three experiments involved a common second phase in which subjects were required to pronounce a sequence of consistent and inconsistent words and nonwords. The experiments were distinguished by the nature of Phase 1. In Experiment 1, subjects pronounced a sequence of words and nonwords in which all the words were exceptions. In Experiment 2, all the items in this phase were consistent, and in Experiment 3, they were inconsistent. Consistency effects for words, as measured by pronunciation latency, were confined to Experiment 1. Consistency effects for nonwords were found in Experiment 2. No consistency effects were found for either words or nonwords in Experiment 3. There was clear evidence of a consistency effect for nonwords in Experiment 1 in terms of pronunciation errors, but the latency data were not significant. This is attributed to the very slow response times in this condition. All these data are compatible with both revised analogy and dual-route theories.