Evidence Of Frequency Effects Research Articles

Eye-movement control during learning and scanning of Landolt-C stimuli: Exposure frequency effects and spacing effects in a visual search task.

We examined whether typical frequency effects observed in normal reading would also occur in a target search task using non-linguistic Landolt-C stimuli. In an initial learning session, we simulated development of frequency effects by controlling exposures participants received of Landolt-C clusters during learning. In a subsequent scanning session, we manipulated the cluster demarcation form of linear strings of Landolt-C clusters (i.e., spaced vs. unspaced vs. shaded unspaced). Participants were required to scan and search for pre-learnt target clusters that were embedded in longer Landolt-C strings. During learning, frequency effects were successfully simulated such that targets with more exposures received shorter fixation time than those with fewer exposures. Participants were unable to successfully detect the pre-learnt targets when they were embedded in the strings during scanning. No evidence of frequency effects was observed in the scanning session. In contrast, eye-movement control was significantly influenced by cluster demarcation form, with increased difficulty for unspaced strings, less for shaded strings, and least for spaced strings. Furthermore, typical landing position distributions that occur in reading of spaced languages also occurred during scanning of spaced Landolt-C strings but not for the shaded or the unspaced strings. In conclusion, exposure frequency effects were successfully simulated during learning but did not carry over to target search during scanning of Landolt-C strings. Possible reasons why frequency effects did not occur in the scanning session are discussed.

Processing latencies of competing forms in analogical levelling as evidence of frequency effects on entrenchment in ongoing language change

AbstractThe reason which is generally given in the usage-based literature to account for the retention of irregularity in high frequency items during analogical change isentrenchment: a frequently occurring irregular linguistic unit resists analogical levelling because it is highly entrenched in speakers’ mental lexicons through its repeated use. Although previous research similarly suggests that the entrenchment of irregular and regularised forms competing during analogical levelling should be proportional to their frequency of use, evidence for this relation between frequency and entrenchment comes exclusively from corpus-based studies; what is missing, therefore, are behavioural tests contrasting the competing innovative and conservative forms. The present paper aims to provide converging evidence for an entrenchment-based explanation of frequency patterns in analogical change on the basis of data obtained from an experiment in which participants are presented with traditional and analogical variants of a variable currently undergoing analogical levelling. Differences in processing latencies obtained during the experiment are interpreted as differences in entrenchment. The results provide i) evidence in favour of the prevalent entrenchment-based explanation of the conserving effect of frequency in analogical change, and ii) evidence of the current state and spread of the change under investigation.

Age and input in the acquisition of grammatical gender in Dutch

This article investigates the effect of age of first exposure and the quantity and quality of input to which non-native acquirers (L2ers) are exposed in their acquisition of grammatical gender in Dutch. Data from 103 English-speaking children, preteens and adults were analysed for gender agreement on definite determiners. It was observed that although most learners regularly overgeneralized the common gender definite determiner de to neuter nouns, there also existed child and adult L2ers who consistently produced the target neuter determiner het with these nouns ( contra Carroll, 1989; Hawkins and Franceschina, 2004; Franceschina, 2005). Participants in all three groups produced het equally frequently with non-derived nouns as with diminutives, one of the few reliable morphophonological cues for neuter gender (compare Carroll, 1999). The present findings are evaluated in light of previous research (Hulk and Cornips, 2006a) suggesting that the quality of input to which L2ers are exposed may significantly affect their ability to proceed beyond the aforementioned stage of overgeneralization. Evidence for frequency effects and the observation that targetlike performance correlated with length of exposure suggests that quantity of input is a significant factor in the acquisition of Dutch gender. This is to be expected if the acquisition of gender is for a large part word-learning (Carroll, 1989; Montrul and Potowski, 2007)

Word Frequency Affects Naming Latency in Dutch when Age of Acquisition is Controlled

Morrison and Ellis (1995) claim that most evidence of frequency effects in word recognition is not genuine but an artefact of the age at which the words have been acquired. The finding that age of acquisition (AOA) has a reliable independent effect on word naming is replicated for the Dutch language. However, it is also shown that the effect of word frequency remains reliable with AOA controlled. A possible interpretation is that the English studies have been based on retrospective student ratings, whereas in the present study a more on-line measure of AOA was used.