The neighborhood distribution effect in visual word recognition: words with single and twin neighbors

Lexical-decision tasks were used to test the role of neighborhood distribution in visual word recognition. Predictions based on the interactive activation model were generated by running simulations. The data were compared for words with 2 higher frequency neighbors that differed in their neighborhood distribution. The neighbors were "single" when they did not share a neighborhood relationship (e.g., neighbors of flanc: flanc-blanc) or "twin" when they shared a neighborhood relationship (e.g., neighbors of firme: ferme-forme). Results show a facilitatory neighborhood distribution effect on words in Experiments 1 (easy pseudowords) and 3 (difficult pseudowords and easy pseudowords) and on pseudowords in Experiment 2. These data can be accounted for in terms of lexical inhibition in the interactive activation framework.     

Effects of ambient noise on time estimation by humans

10 male and 10 female undergraduates were asked to estimate 5-, 10-, 15-, and 30-sec. intervals under five intensities of ambient noise (50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 dB). Interval estimates became shorter as the intensity of noise increased from 50 to 80 dB but became longer at 90 dB. The effects of intensity of noise were most prominant in the two longest intervals. These results are interpreted in terms of CNS arousal theory.     

The oral and written side of word production in young and older adults: generation of lexical neighbors

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of aging on both spoken and written word production by using analogous tasks. To do so, a phonological neighbor generation task (Experiment 1) and an orthographic neighbor generation task (Experiment 2) were designed. In both tasks, young and older participants were given a word and had to generate as many words as they could think of by changing one phoneme in the target word (Experiment 1) or one letter in the target word (Experiment 2). The data of the two experiments were consistent, showing that the older adults generated fewer lexical neighbors and made more errors than the young adults. For both groups, the number of words produced, as well as their lexical frequency, decreased as a function of time. These data strongly support the assumption of a symmetrical age-related decline in the transmission of activation within the phonological and orthographic systems.     

Effect of syllabic neighbourhood as a function of syllabic neighbour length

The concept of syllabic neighbours (words sharing the same first syllable) is central in the interpretive framework of syllabic effects in visual word recognition. However, the definition of this concept remains surprisingly vague, so it is not clear whether or not syllabic competition is driven by words of similar syllabic length. The present study aimed to refine the definition by investigating the effect of higher-frequency syllabic neighbourhood as a function of syllabic neighbour length (similar syllabic length to the target words vs. any syllabic length). In both standard and go/no-go lexical decision tasks, the data showed that increasing the number of higher-frequency syllabic neighbours had an influence only when this number was computed from words of the same syllabic length as the target. Syllabic neighbours may therefore be considered as words sharing the first syllable and the total number of syllables with the target. Implications for accounts of syllable neighbourhood effects are discussed.     

Can we see syllables in monosyllabic words? A study with illusory conjunctions

Mathey, Zagar, Doignon, and Seigneuric (2006) reported an inhibitory effect of syllabic neighbourhood in monosyllabic French words suggesting that syllable units mediate the access to lexical representations of monosyllabic stimuli. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the perception of syllable units in monosyllabic stimuli. The illusory conjunction paradigm was used to examine perceptual groupings of letters. Experiment 1 showed that potential syllables in monosyllabic French words (e.g., BI in BICHE) affected the pattern of illusory conjunctions. Experiment 2 indicated that the perceptual parsing in monosyllabic items was due to syllable information and orthographic redundancy. The implications of the data are discussed for visual word recognition processes in an interactive activation model incorporating syllable units and connected adjacent letters (IAS; Mathey et al., 2006).     

La distribution du voisinage influence l'amorçage orthographique non masqué des mots écrits

The aim of the present research is to study whether orthographic neighbourhood distribution influences unmasked orthographic priming. Two word conditions were compared in the lexical decision task. All word targets had two higher frequency neighbours that were either spread across two letter positions (SINGE/linge-songe) or concentrated on a single letter position (RUCHE/riche-roche). Results showed an inhibitory effect of unmasked orthographic priming. Furthermore, this priming effect was influenced by the target neighbourhood distribution. Priming was only found when the word targets had two neighbours that were spread across two letter positions. These data are discussed within an interactive activation framework in terms of prime activation (Versace and Nevers, 2003).     

Word imageability influences the emotionality effect in episodic memory

Cognitive Processing - This study examines how and to what extent imageability influences the effect of word emotionality in episodic memory. A total of 52 young adults successively performed a...     

Une base de l’émotionalité (valence,arousal, catégories) de 1286 mots français selon l’âge (EMA)

Introduction/aim

Several studies have shown that the effects of word emotionality on its processing depend on both its valence and its arousal. Such effects also varied with age. However, in French, there is no norm providing both valence and arousal estimates for words not directly referring to an emotion. That was the aim of this study. Moreover, the base of word emotionality according to age (EMA) we propose here provides categorization for each word in basic emotional subcategories.

The orthographic neighbourhood frequency effect in French: a letter-case manipulation study.

The neighbourhood frequency effect was investigated by a letter-case manipulation of French words presented in the go/no-go lexical decision task. Accented words were presented both in lower-case letters with written accents and upper-case letters with no written accents, two usual typographies in French. This procedure addressed the stimulus-matching problem by using intra-word comparisons as some words have different orthographic neighbourhoods in the two cases. Neighbourhood frequency was varied across case change for half of the words while it was held constant for the other half. The results showed an interaction between letter-case and neighbourhood constancy, so the inhibitory neighbourhood frequency effect could not be attributed to interstimulus comparisons or to typographical change. Implications are discussed in current models of visual word recognition.