The use of a rapid priming technique I: Adult language processing

1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-91
Author(s):  
Chris Davis ◽  
Anne Castles
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Incomplete Information ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Skilled Readers ◽  
Priming Technique

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses the background and use of the masked priming procedure in adult psycholinguistic research. Using this technique, we address the issue of how precise the letter and word processing systems of adults is for rapidly displayed stimuli. Data is reviewed that suggests that, for skilled readers, the letter and word recognition system is sensitively tuned to the discrimination demands imposed on it by the properties of the written language. That is, the recognition system is able to be discriminative where precision is required, but is also able to consider and use incomplete information when this is predictive.

Word recognition in aphasia

2007 ◽  
pp. 140-156
Author(s):  
Sheila Blumstein
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Sentential Context ◽  
The Face ◽  
Speech And Language Processing

This article reviews current knowledge about the nature of auditory word recognition deficits in aphasia. It assumes that the language functioning of adults with aphasia was normal prior to sustaining brain injury, and that their word recognition system was intact. As a consequence, the study of aphasia provides insight into how damage to particular areas of the brain affects speech and language processing, and thus provides a crucial step in mapping out the neural systems underlying speech and language processing. To this end, much of the discussion focuses on word recognition deficits in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics, two clinical syndromes that have provided the basis for much of the study of the neural basis of language. Clinically, Broca's aphasics have a profound expressive impairment in the face of relatively good auditory language comprehension. This article also considers deficits in processing the sound structure of language, graded activation of the lexicon, lexical competition, influence of word recognition on speech processing, and influence of sentential context on word recognition.

Accessing Morphosyntax in L1 and L2 Word Recognition

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sina Bosch ◽  
Harald Clahsen
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Visual Priming ◽  
And Gender ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Case Number ◽  
L2 Word Recognition

In fusional languages, inflectional affixes may encode multiple morphosyntactic features such as case, number, and gender. To determine how these features are accessed during both native (L1) and non-native (L2) word recognition, the present study compares the results from a masked visual priming experiment testing inflected adjectives of German to those of a previous overt (cross-modal) priming experiment on the same phenomenon. While for the L1 group both experiments produced converging results, a group of highly-proficient Russian L2 learners of German showed native-like modulations of repetition priming effects under overt, but not under masked priming conditions. These results indicate that not only affixes but also their morphosyntactic features are accessible during initial form-based lexical access, albeit only for L1 and not for L2 processing. We argue that this contrast is in line with other findings suggesting that non-native language processing is less influenced by structural information than the L1.

scholarly journals Variability and its limits in bilingual word recognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-329
Author(s):  
Harald Clahsen ◽  
Anna Jessen
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Response Speed ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Mediated Effects ◽  
Participant Group ◽  
Complex Words ◽  
Morphological Parsing

Abstract This study examines the processing of morphologically complex words focusing on how morphological (in addition to orthographic and semantic) factors affect bilingual word recognition. We report findings from a large experimental study with groups of bilingual (Turkish/German) speakers using the visual masked-priming technique. We found morphologically mediated effects on the response speed and the inter-individual variability within the bilingual participant group. We conclude that the grammar (qua morphological parsing) not only enhances speed of processing in bilingual language processing but also yields more uniform performance and thereby constrains variability within a group of otherwise heterogeneous individuals.

Is Masked Neighbor Priming Inhibitory?

2007 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy De Moor ◽  
Liesbeth Van der Herten ◽  
Tom Verguts
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Theoretical Problem ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Word Priming ◽  
Neighbor Effects ◽  
Priming Technique

Abstract. To investigate neighbor effects in visual word recognition, the masked priming technique holds considerable advantages over unprimed methods, because a target word is used as its own control. However, inhibitory neighbor effects obtained with masked priming are still open for different interpretations, because the primes differ across conditions. Given this theoretical problem, it is useful to investigate neighbor priming effects using a prime as its own control. This option is available in the incremental priming technique ( Jacobs, Grainger, & Ferrand, 1995 ), in which a within-condition baseline is created by comparing the response times (RTs) to a target when it is primed at different prime durations. In this study, we examined masked neighbor priming using this technique. Both the traditional and the within-condition baseline indicated that masked neighbor word priming is inhibitory in nature. The results are discussed in terms of current theories of visual word recognition.

EXPRESS: Unveiling the boost in the sandwich priming technique

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110550
Author(s):  
maria fernandez ◽  
Colin J. Davis ◽  
Manuel Perea ◽  
Ana Marcet ◽  
Pablo Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Standard Procedure ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Sandwich Technique ◽  
Unrelated Condition ◽  
Standard Tool ◽  
Delta Plots ◽  
Qualitative Changes ◽  
Priming Technique

The masked priming technique (which compares #####-house-HOUSE vs. #####-fight-HOUSE) is the gold-standard tool to examine the initial moments of word processing. Lupker and Davis (2009) showed that adding a pre-prime identical to the target produced greater priming effects in the sandwich technique (which compares #####-HOUSE-house-HOUSE vs #####-HOUSE-fight-HOUSE). While there is consensus that the sandwich technique magnifies the size of priming effects relative to the standard procedure, the mechanisms underlying this boost are not well understood (i.e., does it reflect quantitative or qualitative changes?). To fully characterize the sandwich technique, we compared the sandwich and standard techniques by examining the RTs and their distributional features (delta plots; conditional-accuracy functions), comparing identity vs. unrelated primes. Results showed that the locus of the boost in the sandwich technique was two-fold: faster responses in the identity condition (via a shift in the RT distributions) and slower responses in the unrelated condition. We discuss the theoretical and methodological implications of these findings.

scholarly journals Phonological precision for word recognition in skilled readers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Medhat Elsherif ◽  
Linda Wheeldon ◽  
Steven Frisson
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Inhibitory Effects ◽  
Lexical Competition ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Skilled Readers ◽  
Lexical Quality ◽  
Theories Of Reading

This study investigated individual differences in the neighbourhood density effect observed during the processing of written words. A masked priming experiment measured form priming for word and pseudoword targets from dense and sparse neighbourhoods in 84 university students. In addition, individual difference measures of language and cognitive processes were collected, and a principal component analysis was used to group these data into factors. We observed facilitatory form priming for words with a sparse neighbourhood and inhibitory form priming for words with a dense neighbourhood. A factor relating to phonological precision was positively related to priming effects for word targets with sparse neighbourhoods, but negatively related to priming effects for word targets with dense neighbourhoods. These results suggest that the component of phonological precision is linked to the inhibitory effects of lexical competition for word recognition. The implications for theories of reading skills, such as the Lexical Quality Hypothesis, are discussed.

Morphological sensitivity generalizes across modalities

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Gafni ◽  
Maya Yablonski ◽  
Michal Ben-Shachar
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Auditory Word ◽  
Auditory Word Recognition ◽  
The Individual

Abstract A growing body of psycholinguistic research suggests that visual and auditory word recognition involve morphological decomposition: Individual morphemes are extracted and lexically accessed when participants are presented with multi-morphemic stimuli. This view is supported by the Morpheme Interference Effect (MIE), where responses to pseudowords that contain real morphemes are slower and less accurate than responses to pseudowords that contain invented morphemes. The MIE was previously demonstrated primarily for visually presented stimuli. Here, we examine whether individuals’ sensitivity to morphological structure generalizes across modalities. Participants performed a lexical decision task on visually and auditorily presented Hebrew stimuli, including pseudowords derived from real or invented roots. The results show robust MIEs in both modalities. We further show that visual MIE is consistently stronger than auditory MIE, both at the group level and at the individual level. Finally, the data show a significant correlation between visual and auditory MIEs at the individual level. These findings suggest that the MIE reflects a general sensitivity to morphological structure, which varies considerably across individuals, but is largely consistent across modalities within individuals. Thus, we propose that the MIE captures an important aspect of language processing, rather than a property specific to visual word recognition.

The use of a rapid priming technique I: Word recognition development in children

1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-98
Author(s):  
Anne Castles ◽  
Chris Davis
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Automatic Processes ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Learning To Read ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Written Word ◽  
Recent Extension ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTThe masked priming procedure has been widely used in adult psycholinguistic research as a means of exploring early and automatic processes in written word recognition (see Davis & Castles, this issue). In this paper, we discuss the recent extension of this technique for use in exploring written vocabulary development in children learning to read. We first report data to show that robust masked priming effects can be produced in children as young as seven years old. We then outline the results of some recent studies which illustrate how masked priming data can uncover the processes by which children access written word representations and the ways in which these processes may change over time.

scholarly journals Morphological priming without semantic relationship in Hebrew spoken word recognition

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Jonathan Geary ◽  
Adam Ussishkin
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Spoken Word Recognition ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Semantic Relationship ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Morphological Priming

We report on an auditory masked priming study designed to test the contributions of semantics and morphology to spoken word recognition in Hebrew. Thirty-one native Hebrew speakers judged the lexicality of Hebrew words that were primed by words which either share their root morpheme and a transparent semantic relationship with the target (e.g. poreʦ פּורץ ‘burglar’ priming priʦa פּריצה ‘burglary’) or share their root morpheme but lack a transparent semantic relationship with the target (e.g. mifraʦ מפרץ ‘gulf’ priming priʦa פּריצה ‘burglary’). We found facilitatory priming by both types of morphological relatives, supporting that semantic overlap is not required for morphological priming in Hebrew spoken word recognition. Thus, our results extend the findings of Frost, Forster, & Deutsch’s (1997) Experiment 5 to the auditory modality, while avoiding confounds between root priming and Hebrew’s abjad orthography associated with the visual masked priming paradigm. Further, our results are inconsistent with models of word processing which treat morphological priming as reflecting form and semantic coactivation, and instead support an independent role for root morphology in Hebrew lexical processing.

Jalapeno or jalapeño: Do diacritics in consonant letters modulate visual similarity effects during word recognition?

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 579-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Marcet ◽  
Hnazand Ghukasyan ◽  
María Fernández-López ◽  
Manuel Perea
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Visual Similarity ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Critical Letter ◽  
Prime Target

AbstractPrior research has shown that word identification times to DENTIST are faster when briefly preceded by a visually similar prime (dentjst; i↔j) than when preceded by a visually dissimilar prime (dentgst). However, these effects of visual similarity do not occur in the Arabic alphabet when the critical letter differs in the diacritical signs: for the target the visually similar one-letter replaced prime (compare and is no more effective than the visually dissimilar one-letter replaced prime Here we examined whether this dissociative pattern is due to the special role of diacritics during word processing. We conducted a masked priming lexical decision experiment in Spanish using target words containing one of two consonants that only differed in the presence/absence of a diacritical sign: n and ñ. The prime-target conditions were identity, visually similar, and visually dissimilar. Results showed an advantage of the visually similar over the visually dissimilar condition for muñeca-type words (muneca-MUÑECA < museca-MUÑECA), but not for moneda-type words (moñeda-MONEDA = moseda-MONEDA). Thus, diacritical signs are salient elements that play a special role during the first moments of processing, thus constraining the interplay between the “feature” and “letter” levels in models of visual word recognition.

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