Work

The activation of embedded (pseudo-)stems in auditory lexical processing: implications for models of spoken word recognition

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: A large literature on visual word recognition has examined the role of (apparent) morphological structure by comparing suffixed (such as treatment), pseudo-suffixed (pigment), and non-suffixed (dogma) words with respect to their embeddings (treat, pig, dog). We examined the processing of these word types, as well as semantic controls, in an auditory primed lexical decision paradigm. The results show significant priming in all conditions relative to an unrelated baseline, with larger priming effects for truly suffixed words than for pseudo-suffixed and non-suffixed words. The results suggest that initial embeddings are activated in spoken word processing, and remain active in ways that do not depend on (apparent) morphological structure. We discuss the implications of these findings for models of lexical access that predict inhibition of disfavoured competitors and models that hold that attempted decomposition is driven by meaning relatedness between the carrier word and its possible embedded stem(s).

Source: Language Cognition and Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2023.2189273

Authors: Ava Creemers, Nattanun Chanchaochai, Meredith Tamminga, David Embick

Institutions: University of Pennsylvania, Chulalongkorn University

Language: English

Topic: Reading and Literacy Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Award: Magnetoencephalographic studies of lexical processing and abstraction in autism