ERIC Number: EJ1159570
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Nov
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Surviving Blind Decomposition: A Distributional Analysis of the Time-Course of Complex Word Recognition
Schmidtke, Daniel; Matsuki, Kazunaga; Kuperman, Victor
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v43 n11 p1793-1820 Nov 2017
The current study addresses a discrepancy in the psycholinguistic literature about the chronology of information processing during the visual recognition of morphologically complex words. "Form-then-meaning" accounts of complex word recognition claim that morphemes are processed as units of form prior to any influence of their meanings, whereas "form-and-meaning" models posit that recognition of complex word forms involves the simultaneous access of morphological and semantic information. The study reported here addresses this theoretical discrepancy by applying a nonparametric distributional technique of survival analysis (Reingold & Sheridan, 2014) to 2 behavioral measures of complex word processing. Across 7 experiments reported here, this technique is employed to estimate the point in time at which orthographic, morphological, and semantic variables exert their earliest discernible influence on lexical decision RTs and eye movement fixation durations. Contrary to form-then-meaning predictions, Experiments 1-4 reveal that surface frequency is the earliest lexical variable to exert a demonstrable influence on lexical decision RTs for English and Dutch derived words (e.g., "badness"; "bad" + "ness"), English pseudoderived words (e.g., "wander"; "wand" + "er") and morphologically simple control words (e.g., "ballad"; "ball" + "ad"). Furthermore, for derived word processing across lexical decision and eye-tracking paradigms (Experiments 1-2; 5-7), semantic effects emerge early in the time-course of word recognition, and their effects either precede or emerge simultaneously with morphological effects. These results are not consistent with the premises of the form-then-meaning view of complex word recognition, but are convergent with a form-and-meaning account of complex word recognition.
Descriptors: Word Recognition, Reaction Time, Eye Movements, Language Processing, English, Indo European Languages, Morphology (Languages), Semantics, Nonparametric Statistics, Cognitive Processes, Statistical Analysis, Priming, Foreign Countries, Undergraduate Students, Young Adults
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (DHHS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada; United Kingdom (London)
Grant or Contract Numbers: NIHR01HD073288