Lexical access via an orthographic code? The Basic Orthographic Syllabic Structure (BOSS) reconsidered

Abstract

Three lexical decision experiments tested the claim by M. Taft (Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 1979, 18, 21–39) that lexical access is based on a word's Basic Orthographic Syllabic Structure (BOSS). Experiment 1 failed to replicate Taft's finding that lexical decisions were faster to monomorphemic words split at their BOSS boundary than those split at their Vocalic Center Group (VCG) boundary. In Experiments 2 and 3, preview of a word's BOSS for monomorphemic words produced no faster lexical decision than preview of the initial VCG. There was therefore no evidence that the BOSS is a word's unique lexical access entry. The results of Experiment 3, which employed polymorphemic words, suggested that morphemic units are more likely to be access codes than purely orthographic units.