scholarly journals Morphological priming of inflectional suffixes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarina Marjanovic ◽  
Davide Crepaldi
Keyword(s):  
Priming Effect ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Morphological Priming ◽  
Visual Word Identification ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Complex Words

Morphologically complex words are processed through their constituent morphemes during visual word recognition. While this has been primarily established through the stem priming paradigm, the role of shared affixes is more controversial. Also, most evidence on affix priming comes from derivation, while inflectional priming remains largely unaddressed. Here we present two lexical decision, masked priming experiments filling this gap. Taking advantage of the rich inflectional pattern of Slovene, we assessed inflectional suffix priming (mestam–HALJAM), and compared it to the well-established stem priming effect (haljov–HALJAM): while the latter is solid as expected, the former seems to be weak to non–existing. Results further indicate that there is no interaction between sharing a stem and sharing an inflectional suffix—neither stem nor suffix priming is boosted when primes and targets also share the other morpheme. These data indicate an important difference between stems, derivational affixes and inflectional affixes, which we consider in the context of models of visual word identification and information theory.

scholarly journals Letter chunk frequency does not explain morphological masked priming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara De Rosa ◽  
Davide Crepaldi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
System Sensitivity ◽  
Early Visual Processing ◽  
Morphological Status ◽  
Visual Word Identification ◽  
Rule Out

Research on visual word identification has extensively investigated the role of morphemes, recurrent letter chunks that convey a fairly regular meaning (e.g.,lead-er-ship). Masked priming studies highlighted morpheme identification in complex (e.g., sing-er) and pseudo-complex (corn-er) words, as well as in nonwords (e.g., basket-y). The present study investigated whether such sensitivity to morphemes could be rooted in the visual system sensitivity to statistics of letter (co)occurrence. To this aim, we assessed masked priming as induced by nonword primes obtained by combining a stem (e.g.,bulb) with (i) naturally frequent, derivational suffixes (e.g.,-ment), (ii) non-morphological, equally frequent word endings (e.g.,-idge), and (iii) non-morphological, infrequent word endings (e.g.,-kle). In two additional tasks, we collected interpretability and word-likeness measures for morphologically-structured nonwords, to assess whether priming is modulated by such factors. Results indicate that masked priming is not affected by either the frequency or the morphological status of word endings. Our findings are in line with models of early visual processing based on automatic stem/word extraction, and rule out letter chunk frequency as a main player in the early stages of visual word identification. Nonword interpretability and word-likeness do not affect this pattern.

scholarly journals Letter chunk frequency does not explain morphological masked priming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara De Rosa ◽  
Davide Crepaldi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
System Sensitivity ◽  
Early Visual Processing ◽  
Morphological Status ◽  
Visual Word Identification ◽  
Rule Out

AbstractResearch on visual word identification has extensively investigated the role of morphemes, recurrent letter chunks that convey a fairly regular meaning (e.g., lead-er-ship). Masked priming studies highlighted morpheme identification in complex (e.g., sing-er) and pseudo-complex (corn-er) words, as well as in nonwords (e.g., basket-y). The present study investigated whether such sensitivity to morphemes could be rooted in the visual system sensitivity to statistics of letter (co)occurrence. To this aim, we assessed masked priming as induced by nonword primes obtained by combining a stem (e.g., bulb) with (i) naturally frequent, derivational suffixes (e.g., -ment), (ii) non-morphological, equally frequent word-endings (e.g., -idge), and (iii) non-morphological, infrequent word-endings (e.g., -kle). In two additional tasks, we collected interpretability and word-likeness measures for morphologically-structured nonwords, to assess whether priming is modulated by such factors. Results indicate that masked priming is not affected by either the frequency or the morphological status of word-endings, a pattern that was replicated in a second experiment including also lexical primes. Our findings are in line with models of early visual processing based on automatic stem/word extraction, and rule out letter chunk frequency as a main player in the early stages of visual word identification. Nonword interpretability and word-likeness do not affect this pattern.

Masked morphological priming of compound constituents

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Fiorentino ◽  
Ella Fund-Reznicek
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Regular Form ◽  
Morphological Priming ◽  
Complex Words ◽  
Open Class ◽  
New Evidence

Recent masked priming studies suggest that complex words are rapidly segmented into potential morphological constituents during initial visual word recognition. Much of this evidence involves affixation or other formally regular operations, leaving open the question of whether these effects rely heavily on the identification of a closed-class affix or other formal regularity. In two masked priming experiments with English transparent and opaque bimorphemic compound primes consisting solely of open-class morphemes, we find significant constituent priming, but no significant priming for purely orthographic overlap. We conclude that masked morphological priming generalizes across word-formation types to include compounds with no affix or other regular form. These results provide new evidence for across-the-board morphological-level segmentation during visual word recognition and for morpheme-based compound processing.

scholarly journals Dissociating morphological and form priming with novel complex word primes

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Fiorentino ◽  
Stephen Politzer-Ahles ◽  
Natalie S. Pak ◽  
María Teresa Martínez-García ◽  
Caitlin Coughlin
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Lexical Status ◽  
Morphological Priming ◽  
Novel Complex ◽  
Complex Words ◽  
Orthographic Priming

Recent research suggests that visually-presented words are initially morphologically segmented whenever the letter-string can be exhaustively assigned to existing morphological representations, but not when an exhaustive parse is unavailable; e.g., priming is observed for both hunter → HUNT and brother → BROTH, but not for brothel → BROTH. Few studies have investigated whether this pattern extends to novel complex words, and the results to date (all from novel suffixed words) are mixed. In the current study, we examine whether novel compounds (drugrack → RACK) yield morphological priming which is dissociable from that in novel pseudoembedded words (slegrack → RACK). Using masked priming, we find significant and comparable priming in reaction times for word-final elements of both novel compounds and novel pseudoembedded words. Using overt priming, however, we find greater priming effects (in both reaction times and N400 amplitudes) for novel compounds compared to novel pseudoembedded words. These results are consistent with models assuming across-the-board activation of putative constituents, while also suggesting that morpheme activation may persevere despite the lack of an exhaustive morpheme-based parse when an exhaustive monomorphemic analysis is also unavailable. These findings highlight the critical role of the lexical status of the pseudoembedded prime in dissociating morphological and orthographic priming.

Does Top-Down Feedback Modulate the Encoding of Orthographic Representations During Visual-Word Recognition?

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 278-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Perea ◽  
Ana Marcet ◽  
Marta Vergara-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Orthographic Representations ◽  
Visual Word Identification ◽  
Matched Case

Abstract. In masked priming lexical decision experiments, there is a matched-case identity advantage for nonwords, but not for words (e.g., ERTAR-ERTAR <  ertar-ERTAR; ALTAR-ALTAR = altar-ALTAR). This dissociation has been interpreted in terms of feedback from higher levels of processing during orthographic encoding. Here, we examined whether a matched-case identity advantage also occurs for words when top-down feedback is minimized. We employed a task that taps prelexical orthographic processes: the masked prime same-different task. For “same” trials, results showed faster response times for targets when preceded by a briefly presented matched-case identity prime than when preceded by a mismatched-case identity prime. Importantly, this advantage was similar in magnitude for nonwords and words. This finding constrains the interplay of bottom-up versus top-down mechanisms in models of visual-word identification.

scholarly journals Masked morphological priming tracks the development of a fully mature lexical system in L2

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Viviani ◽  
Davide Crepaldi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Morphological Priming ◽  
Visual Word Identification ◽  
Orthographic Priming ◽  
The Relationship

Visual word identification is based on an early morphological analysis in one’s native language; how these mechanisms apply to a second language is much less clear. We recruited L1 Italian–L2 English speakers in a masked priming task where the relationship between prime and target was morphologically transparent, e.g., employer–EMPLOY, morphologically opaque, e.g., corner-CORN, or merely orthographic, e.g., brothel–BROTH. Critically, participants underwent a thorough testing of their lexical, morphological, phonological, spelling and semantic proficiency in their second language. By exploring a wide spectrum of L2 proficiency, we showed that this factor critically qualifies L2 priming. Genuine morphological facilitation only arises as proficiency grows; and opaque and orthographic priming shrink as L2 competence increases. Age of acquisition was also evaluated, and did not affect the priming pattern. Furthermore, we showed that L2 priming is modulated by sensitivity to probabilistic relationships between form and meaning. Overall, these data illustrate the trajectory towards a fully consolidated L2 lexicon, and show that masked priming is a key tracker of this process.

Psycholinguistic Approaches to Morphology: Theoretical Issues

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina L. Gagné
Keyword(s):  
Human Mind ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Word Structure ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Morphological Priming ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
Complex Words ◽  
Whole Word ◽  
Theoretical Issues

Psycholinguistics is the study of how language is acquired, represented, and used by the human mind; it draws on knowledge about both language and cognitive processes. A central topic of debate in psycholinguistics concerns the balance between storage and processing. This debate is especially evident in research concerning morphology, which is the study of word structure, and several theoretical issues have arisen concerning the question of how (or whether) morphology is represented and what function morphology serves in the processing of complex words. Five theoretical approaches have emerged that differ substantially in the emphasis placed on the role of morphemic representations during the processing of morphologically complex words. The first approach minimizes processing by positing that all words, even morphologically complex ones, are stored and recognized as whole units, without the use of morphemic representations. The second approach posits that words are represented and processed in terms of morphemic units. The third approach is a mixture of the first two approaches and posits that a whole-access route and decomposition route operate in parallel. A fourth approach posits that both whole word representations and morphemic representations are used, and that these two types of information interact. A fifth approach proposes that morphology is not explicitly represented, but rather, emerges from the co-activation of orthographic/phonological representations and semantic representations. These competing approaches have been evaluated using a wide variety of empirical methods examining, for example, morphological priming, the role of constituent and word frequency, and the role of morphemic position. For the most part, the evidence points to the involvement of morphological representations during the processing of complex words. However, the specific way in which these representations are used is not yet fully known.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document