Frequency Effects on Spelling Error Recognition: An ERP Study

Spelling errors are ubiquitous in all writing systems. Most studies exploring spelling errors focused on the phonological plausibility of errors. However, unlike typical pseudohomophones, spelling errors occur in naturally produced written language with variable frequencies. We investigated the time course of recognition of the most frequent orthographic errors in Russian (error in an unstressed vowel at the root) and the effect of word frequency on this process. During ERP recording, 26 native Russian speakers silently read high-frequency correctly spelled words, low-frequency correctly spelled words, high-frequency words with errors, and low-frequency words with errors. The amplitude of P200 was more positive for correctly spelled words than for misspelled words and did not depend on the frequency of the words. Word frequency affected spelling recognition in the later stages of word processing (350-700 ms): high-frequency misspelled words elicited a greater P300 than high-frequency correctly spelled words, and low-frequency misspelled words elicited a greater N400 than low-frequency correctly spelled words. We observe spelling effects in the same time window for both the P300 and N400, which may reflect temporal overlap between mainly categorization processes based on orthographic properties for high-frequency words and phonological processes for low-frequency words. We concluded that two independent pathways can be active simultaneously during spelling recognition: one reflects mainly orthographic processing of high-frequency words and the other is the phonological processing of low-frequency words. Our findings suggest that these pathways are associated with different ERP components. Therefore, our results complement existing reading models and demonstrate that the neuronal underpinnings of spelling error recognition during reading depend on word frequency.

Frequency, informativity and word length: Insights from typologically diverse corpora

Zipf’s law of abbreviation, which posits a negative correlation between word frequency and length, is one of the most famous and robust cross-linguistic generalizations. At the same time, it has been shown that contextual informativity (average surprisal given previous context) can be more strongly correlated with word length, although this tendency is not observed consistently, depending on several methodological choices. The present study, which examines a more diverse sample of languages than in the previous studies (Arabic, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Russian, Spanish and Turkish), reveals intriguing cross-linguistic differences, which can be explained by typological properties of the languages. I use large web-based corpora from the Leipzig Corpora Collection to estimate word lengths in UTF-8 characters, as well as word frequency, informativity given previous word and informativity given next word, applying different methods of bigrams processing. The results show consistent cross-linguistic differences in the size of correlations between word length and the corpus-based measures. I argue that these differences can be explained by the properties of noun phrases in a language, most importantly, the order of heads and modifiers and their relative morphological complexity, as well as by orthographic conventions.

Associations between Visual, Hearing Functioning and Cognitive Functioning among Hispanics/Latinos

Findings that visual impairment (VI) and hearing impairment (HI) are associated with cognitive functioning are drawn from studies that involved few Hispanic/Latino participants. We utilized data from the Miami Ocular SOL ancillary study to the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) with 1056 participants aged 45 and older. The outcomes were neurocognitive performances assessed by the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST, executive function), Word Frequency Test (verbal fluency), Brief Spanish-English Verbal Learning Test-recall (B-SEVLT recall, episodic memory), and the Six-Item Screener (global cognitive functioning). Visual functioning was measured by National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ). Hearing function which was measured by Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults and Elderly (HHIA/HHIE) was available for all HCHS/SOL participants (n=9343). Multiple regression was performed for each cognitive outcome while controlling for age, gender, education, Hispanic/Latino ethnicity background, cardiovascular risk factors, depression and complex design. NEI-VFQ was associated with 3 of the 4 cognitive outcomes: DSST (β =0.14, se=0.027, p<0.01), Word Frequency Test (β=0.042, se=0.016, p<0.01), B-SEVLT-recall (β=0.021, se=0.007, p<0.03). HHIA/HHIE was not associated with any of the cognitive measures examined. The HHIA/HHIE analysis was repeated using data from all sites; similar results were observed. Visual functioning but not hearing functioning is associated with worse cognition in Hispanics/Latinos, although previous HCHS/SOL analysis indicated that hearing loss as assessed by pure tone audiometry was associated with worse cognitive functioning. Longitudinal assessment of both clinical and functional measures is needed to understand the impact of sensory impairment on cognition in Hispanics/Latinos.

Does diacritics‐based lexical disambiguation modulate word frequency, length, and predictability effects? An eye‐movements investigation of processing Arabic diacritics

In Arabic, a predominantly consonantal script that features a high incidence of lexical ambiguity (heterophonic homographs), glyph-like marks called diacritics supply vowel information that clarifies how each consonant should be pronounced, and thereby disambiguate the pronunciation of consonantal strings. Diacritics are typically omitted from print except in situations where a particular homograph is not sufficiently disambiguated by the surrounding context. In three experiments we investigated whether the presence of disambiguating diacritics on target homographs modulates word frequency, length, and predictability effects during reading. In all experiments, the subordinate representation of the target homographs was instantiated by the diacritics (in the diacritized conditions), and by the context subsequent to the target homographs. The results replicated the effects of word frequency (Experiment 1), word length (Experiment 2), and predictability (Experiment 3). However, there was no evidence that diacritics-based disambiguation modulated these effects in the current study. Rather, diacritized targets in all experiments attracted longer first pass and later (go past and/or total fixation count) processing. These costs are suggested to be a manifestation of the subordinate bias effect. Furthermore, in all experiments, the diacritics-based disambiguation facilitated later sentence processing, relative to when the diacritics were absent. The reported findings expand existing knowledge about processing of diacritics, their contribution towards lexical ambiguity resolution, and sentence processing.

The Effects of Orthographic Neighborhood Size and the Influence of Individual Differences in Linguistic Skills During the Recognition of Chinese Words

There are still inconsistencies as to whether frequency and orthographic neighborhood size affect the reading and recognition of Chinese words. In addition, research on Chinese reading still adheres to the view that “all skilled readers read in the same way” and pays little attention to the influence of individual differences in linguistic skills on word recognition. In this research, we studied the recognition of Chinese two-character words in a lexical decision task (LDT) by manipulating neighborhood size and word frequency and controlling the frequency of the initial constituent character. Individual differences in linguistic skills were assessed through tests of spelling and reading comprehension. The results showed that: (1) A larger orthographic neighborhood size of the initial character had a facilitative effect on Chinese word recognition. The orthographic neighborhood size effect is modulated by word frequency, but this modulation effect was not stable. (2) Spelling and reading comprehension skills are good indicators to assess individual differences in Chinese linguistic skills, and they are significantly correlated. (3) Individual differences in linguistic skills influence the neighborhood size effect, which is moderated by word frequency.

Identifying the Core Vocabulary for Adults With Complex Communication Needs From the British National Corpus by Analyzing Grouped Frequency Distributions

Purpose This study is aimed to identify the high-frequency vocabulary (HFV), otherwise termed “core vocabulary” for adults with complex communication needs. Method Three major characteristics of the HFV—a relatively small number of different words (NDW), a relatively high word frequency, and a high word commonality across speakers—were examined so as not to lose any candidate words for the HFV. Specifically, instead of applying the traditionally used cutoff word frequency of 0.5‰, a grouped frequency distribution was used to examine the appropriate frequency ranges to determine the HFV candidates. To improve the representativeness of the HFV across ages, social backgrounds, conversation situations, and topics, 330,000 spoken words of 66 adults (29 men and 37 women; M age = 45.47 years, SD = 16.07) were extracted from the British National Corpus database for analysis. Results A distinct pattern of NDW was observed from the frequency of 0.1‰ in the grouped frequency distribution. In total, 671 words were found to be candidates for the HFV, accounting for 90.94% of the total sample words. After the word commonality analysis indicated at least 80% commonality across speakers, 203 words were selected for the final HFV; accountability was calculated at 80.62%. Conclusions With the innovative word analysis approach, this study provided an HFV list that can be used for a wide range of conversation topics. This method provides a scientific and principled approach to identifying and organizing vocabulary for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention that does not exist in many AAC resources that promote “core vocabulary” with identifying the source for vocabulary selection.