Form Priming Research Articles

The Processing of English Derived Words by Chinese‐English Bilinguals

AbstractThis study examined the sensitivity of Chinese‐English bilinguals to derivational word structure in English. In the first experiment, English monolinguals showed masked priming effects for prime‐target pairs related both transparently (e.g., hunter‐HUNT) and opaquely (e.g., corner‐CORN) but not for those related purely in terms of form (e.g., freeze‐FREE), whereas bilinguals showed priming in all three conditions. Furthermore, stronger form priming was found for bilinguals who were less experienced in English. A second experiment showed that bilingual participants found it harder to identify items as nonwords when the words possessed a suffix (e.g., animalful) than when they did not (e.g., animalfil), and this was true in terms of accuracy even for bilinguals with less exposure to English. Overall, these findings suggest that Chinese‐English bilinguals, regardless of proficiency, have some sensitivity to morphological structure and that greater proficiency leads to priming effects that tend to pattern more like those of monolinguals.

Masked form Priming is Moderated by the Size of the Letter-Order-Free Orthographic Neighbourhood.

University students made lexical decisions to targets preceded by masked primes. In Experiment 1, transposed-letter primes were used also in the sandwich priming paradigm, in which the target is briefly pre-presented prior to the prime. The priming effects in the masked paradigm, but not in the sandwich paradigm, were moderated by the density of the letter-order-free neighbourhood of the target. In Experiment 2, letter-order-free neighbour prime words produced a priming cost in masked priming. These results are consistent with the idea that sandwich priming attenuates letter-order-free neighbour competition in target identification. Unexpectedly, no priming cost was produced by conventional (letter-position-preserving) word neighbour primes. Order-free neighbours may produce facilitation of target processing less, and more variably, than conventional neighbours.

Is the L2 lexicon different from the L1 lexicon? Evidence from novel word lexicalization

Studies on the representation of newly learned words in the native language show that after repeated sessions of learning, novel words produce less form priming than nonwords when they are used as primes in a masked priming experiment. This suggests that the newly learned words have established lexical representations, and therefore start to behave more like real words than nonwords (Qiao & Forster, 2013). Since adult language learning normally happens in a foreign language context rather than in the native language context, it is important to see whether similar results could be obtained if bilingual subjects were taught novel words in their second language (L2) rather than their first language (L1). The current experiment explores this issue using the same procedure and materials as used in the L1 experiment. Results show that in contrast to the nonsignificant priming observed with the L1 speakers, L2 speakers show enhanced facilitatory priming after the same training process. In addition, a significant facilitatory priming effect is also obtained with real words as primes, suggesting that the L1 and L2 lexicons might work in rather different ways. One possibility is that the L2 lexicon is not represented in the same type of memory system as the L1 lexicon, rather it is represented in a system where competitive effects are not observed.

Effects of Lexical Competition and Dialect Exposure on Phonological Priming

A cross-modal lexical decision task was used to explore the effects of lexical competition and dialect exposure on phonological form priming. Relative to unrelated auditory primes, matching real word primes facilitated lexical decision for visual real word targets, whereas competing minimal pair primes inhibited lexical decision. These effects were robust across two English vowel pairs (mid-front and low-front) and for two listener groups (mono-dialectal and multi-dialectal). However, both the most robust facilitation and the most robust inhibition were observed for the mid-front vowel words with few phonological competitors for the mono-dialectal listener group. The mid-front vowel targets were acoustically more distinct than the low-front vowel targets, suggesting that acoustic-phonetic similarity leads to stronger lexical competition and less robust facilitation and inhibition. The multi-dialectal listeners had more prior exposure to multiple different dialects than the mono-dialectal group, suggesting that long-term exposure to linguistic variability contributes to a more flexible processing strategy in which lexical competition extends over a longer period of time, leading to less robust facilitation and inhibition.

Morphology, orthography, and the two hemispheres: A divided visual field study with Hindi/Urdu biliterates

Although identical on the spoken level, Hindi and Urdu differ markedly on the written level in terms of reading/writing direction and orthographic depth, with discernible processing consequences. The present study used a divided field paradigm to study the impact of writing system characteristics of Hindi and Urdu on word naming latencies in skilled biliterate users of these languages. Hindi (read/written from left to right) was hypothesized to show a larger right field advantage than Urdu (read/written from right to left); Hindi words sharing form overlap with primes were expected to show a significant priming effect in the left visual field, but a significant right field effect for morphologically-primed naming. Both these expectations were confirmed. An overall right field advantage was obtained for one syllable Hindi and Urdu words; two syllable Urdu words showed either no visual field differences or a left field advantage, and the right field advantage for Hindi was significantly greater for two syllable than one syllable words. Further, Hindi words showed significant form priming (relative to control stimuli) in the left visual field and significant morphological priming (relative to form priming) in the right visual field. By contrast, Urdu words showed no significant form priming in either visual field, and significantly greater morphological than form priming in the left visual field. These results are taken to suggest that visual field asymmetries in word naming are sensitive to differences in reading habit-related scanning biases and to orthographic depth-related differences in word recognition processes.

Dissociating morphological and form priming with novel complex word primes: Evidence from masked priming, overt priming, and event-related potentials.

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.

L1 and L2 processing of compound words: Evidence from masked priming experiments in English

This study reports results from a series of masked priming experiments investigating early automatic processes involved in the visual recognition of English bimorphemic compounds in native and non-native processing. Results show that NSs produced robust and statistically equivalent masked priming effects with semantically transparent (e.g., toothbrush-TOOTH) and opaque (e.g., honeymoon-HONEY) compound primes, but no priming with orthographic controls (e.g., restaurant-REST), irrespective of constituent position. Similarly, advanced Chinese learners of English also produced robust and statistically equivalent priming effects with transparent and opaque compound primes in both positions. However, a clear orthographic priming effect was observed in theword-initialoverlap position but no such effect in theword-finalposition. We argue that L2 compound priming originates from a different source from form priming. We conclude that these findings lend support to the sublexical morpho-orthographic decomposition mechanism underlying early English compound recognition not only in L1 but also in L2 processing.

Editorial: Frontiers in the acquisition of literacy.

Editorial: Frontiers in the acquisition of literacy.

Developmental differences in masked form priming are not driven by vocabulary growth.

As children develop into skilled readers, they are able to more quickly and accurately distinguish between words with similar visual forms (i.e., they develop precise lexical representations). The masked form priming lexical decision task is used to test the precision of lexical representations. In this paradigm, a prime (which differs by one letter from the target) is briefly flashed before the target is presented. Participants make a lexical decision to the target. Primes can facilitate reaction time by partially activating the lexical entry for the target. If a prime is unable to facilitate reaction time, it is assumed that participants have a precise orthographic representation of the target and thus the prime is not a close enough match to activate its lexical entry. Previous developmental work has shown that children and adults' lexical decision times are facilitated by form primes preceding words from small neighborhoods (i.e., very few words can be formed by changing one letter in the original word; low N words), but only children are facilitated by form primes preceding words from large neighborhoods (high N words). It has been hypothesized that written vocabulary growth drives the increase in the precision of the orthographic representations; children may not know all of the neighbors of the high N words, making the words effectively low N for them. We tested this hypothesis by (1) equating the effective orthographic neighborhood size of the targets for children and adults and (2) testing whether age or vocabulary size was a better predictor of the extent of form priming. We found priming differences even when controlling for effective neighborhood size. Furthermore, age was a better predictor of form priming effects than was vocabulary size. Our findings provide no support for the hypothesis that growth in written vocabulary size gives rise to more precise lexical representations. We propose that the development of spelling ability may be a more important factor.

Are root letters compulsory for lexical access in Semitic languages? The case of masked form-priming in Arabic

Do Semitic and Indo-European languages differ at a qualitative level? Recently, it has been claimed that lexical space in Semitic languages (e.g., Hebrew, Arabic) is mainly determined by morphological constraints, while lexical space in Indo-European languages is mainly determined by orthographic constraints (Frost, Kugler, Deutsch, & Forster, 2005). One of the key findings supporting the qualitative difference between Semitic and Indo-European languages is the absence of masked form priming in Hebrew/Arabic with productive words. Here we examined whether masked form priming occurs in Arabic words when one of the letters from the productive root is replaced in the prime stimulus by another letter. Results showed a significant masked form priming effect with the lexical decision task in three experiments (including yes/no, go/no-go, and sandwich priming), to a similar degree to that reported in previous research with Indo-European languages. These data support the view that the processing of word forms in Semitic vs. Indo-European languages differs more at a quantitative than at a qualitative level.

Processing morphologically complex words in second-language learners: The effect of proficiency

The present study explored how the processing of morphologically complex words in second-language (L2) learners changes as their proficiency increases. ERPs were recorded from highly proficient and less proficient L2 learners, using the repetition priming paradigm. Three experimental conditions were investigated: morphological related/unrelated pairs, semantically related/unrelated pairs, and form related/unrelated pairs. The presence of priming in each condition was assessed by comparing responses to targets preceded by related primes with those preceded by unrelated primes. ERP results showed that highly proficient L2 learners demonstrated priming effect within 350–550ms in the morphological condition, associating with an N400 reduction, while less proficient L2 learners showed no morphological priming effect within the N400 range. Besides, form priming effect was observed in both highly proficient and less proficient L2 learners within 400–450ms and 450–500ms, and semantic inhibiting effect was observed in both groups within 450–500ms, suggesting that less proficient L2 learners were equally sensitive to the word form and meaning. The ERP results indicate that highly proficient L2 learners manifest rule-based decomposition, while less proficient L2 learners rely more on lexical storage in processing morphologically complex words. Less proficient L2 learners have not developed the decomposing mechanism, despite their sensitivity to word form and meaning. The way in which morphologically complex words are processed in L2 learners does change as their proficiency increases, validating the predictions of the declarative/procedural model.

A behavioral database for masked form priming

Reading involves a process of matching an orthographic input with stored representations in lexical memory. The masked priming paradigm has become a standard tool for investigating this process. Use of existing results from this paradigm can be limited by the precision of the data and the need for cross-experiment comparisons that lack normal experimental controls. Here, we present a single, large, high-precision, multicondition experiment to address these problems. Over 1,000 participants from 14 sites responded to 840 trials involving 28 different types of orthographically related primes (e.g., castfe-CASTLE) in a lexical decision task, as well as completing measures of spelling and vocabulary. The data were indeed highly sensitive to differences between conditions: After correction for multiple comparisons, prime type condition differences of 2.90 ms and above reached significance at the 5% level. This article presents the method of data collection and preliminary findings from these data, which included replications of the most widely agreed-upon differences between prime types, further evidence for systematic individual differences in susceptibility to priming, and new evidence regarding lexical properties associated with a target word's susceptibility to priming. These analyses will form a basis for the use of these data in quantitative model fitting and evaluation and for future exploration of these data that will inform and motivate new experiments.

The effect of a bilingual learning mode on the establishment of lexical semantic representations in the L2

Deliberate vocabulary learning is common in the L2, however, questions remain about most efficient and effective forms of this learning approach. Bilingual models of L2 word learning and processing can be used to make predictions about outcomes of learning new vocabulary from bilingual (L2–L1) flashcards, and these predictions can be tested experimentally. In the present study, 41 late adult German–English bilinguals learned 48 English pseudowords using bilingual flashcards. Quality of component lexical representations established for the studied items was probed using form priming and semantic priming. The results show that, although all participants were able to establish robust orthographic representations of the studied items, only bilinguals with large L2 vocabularies established high-quality lexical semantic representations. With neither the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) nor the Sense Model able to fully account for these findings, an alternative explanation based on a distributed semantic features view of word learning is proposed. Learning implications of the findings are discussed.

How many words can we read at once? More intervenor effects in masked priming

Abstract It is argued that the existence of masked translation priming from L1 to L2 with a 50 ms prime implies that processing of the prime must continue well after it has been replaced by the target, since it is estimated that the meaning of a word is not established until at least 120 ms after stimulus onset. This fact implies that the lexical processor must be equipped to handle two words simultaneously. However when a masked word intervenes between the prime and the target, three words must be processed simultaneously. Under these conditions, form priming is eliminated altogether, and identity priming is reduced, suggesting that the capacity of the lexical processor does not extend to three words. Four experiments are reported showing that this disruption of priming only occurs when the intervenor triggers lexical processing. It is argued that the differential effect of the intervenor on identity and form priming can be explained on the assumption that priming takes place at the level of form, and at the level of meaning. As support for this interpretation, it is shown that an identity prime is capable of generating a congruence effect in a semantic categorization experiment despite the presence of a masked intervenor.

Novel word lexicalization and the prime lexicality effect.

This study investigates how newly learned words are integrated into the first-language lexicon using masked priming. Two lexical decision experiments are reported, with the aim of establishing whether newly learned words behave like real words in a masked form priming experiment. If they do, they should show a prime lexicality effect (PLE), in which less priming is obtained due to form similarity when the prime is a word. In the first experiment, subjects were taught the meanings of novel words that were neighbors of real words, but no PLE was observed; that is, equally strong form priming was obtained for both trained and untrained novel primes. In the second experiment, 4 training sessions were spread over 4 weeks, and under these conditions, a clear PLE was obtained in the final session. It is concluded that lexicalization requires multiple training sessions. Possible explanations of the PLE are discussed.

Developing a universal model of reading necessitates cracking the orthographic code

I argue, contra Frost, that when prime lexicality and target density are considered, it is not clear that there are fundamental differences between form priming effects in Semitic and European languages. Furthermore, identifying and naming printed words in these languages raises common theoretical problems. Solving these problems and developing a universal model of reading necessitates "cracking" the orthographic input code.

Not all skilled readers have cracked the code: Individual differences in masked form priming.

This experiment investigated whether individual differences in written language proficiency among university students predict the early stages of lexical retrieval tapped by the masked form priming lexical decision task. To separate the contributions of sublexical facilitation and lexical competition to masked form priming, the effects of prime lexicality were directly compared for both transposed-letter (TL) primes (e.g., sung SNUG; salb SLAB) and neighbor primes (e.g., snag SNUG; sleb SLAB) in a sample of 100 university students assessed on measures of reading, spelling and vocabulary. The data for the whole sample showed facilitation from nonword primes, but inhibition from word primes. Linear mixed models including the individual difference measures showed that higher scores on a principal component that captured the shared variance among reading, spelling, and vocabulary were associated with both stronger inhibition from TL word primes and stronger facilitation from neighbor nonword primes. These findings are consistent with the lexical quality hypothesis of reading that predicts that skilled readers vary in the extent to which they have developed precisely specified orthographic representations.

Pseudohomophone priming in lexical decision is not fragile in a sparse lexical neighborhood.

In lexical decision, to date few studies in English have found a reliable pseudohomophone priming advantage with orthographically similar primes (the klip-plip effect; Frost, Ahissar, Gotesman, & Tayeb, 2003; see Rastle & Brysbaert, 2006, for a review). On the basis of the Bayseian reader model of lexical decision (Norris, 2006, 2009), we hypothesized that this was because in previous studies, lexical decisions could have been made without finding a match between the input and a unique lexical representation. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that words from dense neighborhoods showed neither an orthographic form priming effect nor a pseudohomophone priming advantage; in contrast, with words from a sparse lexical neighborhood, a sizeable orthographic form priming effect was found, and a robust pseudohomophone priming advantage, which was not limited to the overlap of onset phoneme, was also observed. Identity primes produced greater facilitation than pseudohomophone primes. We consider the implication of these findings for the role of assembled phonology in lexical access.

Lexical and metrical cues for English word segmentation by Mandarin second language learners of English

This paper investigates the roles of lexical cues and metrical cues in word segmentation by Mandarin L2 learners of English with high and low English proficiency. A cross-modal form priming paradigm is adopted in the experiment. In the experiment, 33 participants (16 advanced learners, 17 beginning learners) heard a five-syllable phrase (e.g., anythingcorri, anything is the and corri is the ′), produced by a native American English speaker. After 100 ms, a three-syllable letter string (e.g., the corridor) was shown on the screen. The participants task was to decide whether a target was a real word. The contexts, primes, and targets have real word and non-word version and have either SW or WS (S: strong; W: weak) stress patterns. The results indicate that: (1) Lexical cues are the main strategy for advanced learners; (2) Beginning learners rely more on metrical cues; (3) When the stress pattern of contexts and primes are identical, it took participants less time to response. The results support previous studies that lexical and metrical are the cues listeners would rely on when doing segmentation. Furthermore, the results suggest that the strategies listeners rely on would change as they become more proficient in English.

Letters in time and retinotopic space.

Various phenomena in tachistoscopic word identification and priming (WRODS and LTRS are confused with and prime WORDS and LETTERS) suggest that position-specific channels are not used in the processing of letters in words. Previous approaches to this issue have sought alternative matching rules because they have assumed that these phenomena reveal which stimuli are good but imperfect matches to a particular word-such imperfect matches being taken by the word recognition system as partial evidence for that word. The new Letters in Time and Retinotopic Space model (LTRS) makes the alternative assumption that these phenomena reveal the rates at which different features of the stimulus are extracted, because the stimulus is ambiguous when some features are missing from the percept. LTRS is successfully applied to tachistoscopic identification and form priming data with manipulations of duration and target-foil and prime-target relationships.