The present research examined the role of phonological and orthographic properties of cues in mediating the retrieval of words from the mental lexicon. The task required subjects to resolve fragmented words when provided with semantically related cues (e.g., spiteful: DIC ). Phonological properties of the letter cues were manipulated such that the letters either corresponded to the syllables (e.g., DIC in vindictive) or nonsyllables (NDI) in the word. Orthographic properties of the letter cues were manipulated by selecting letter groups that either co-occurred frequently in the language or did not. In two experiments, results revealed little or no effect of the phonological variable (syllables) but a reliable effect of the orthographic variable (letter-cue frequency). Letter cues with a low frequency of co-occurrence in the language led to better completion of the fragmented words. We interpret these findings as support for models oflexical representation that are based on orthographic properties (e.g., Seidenberg & McClelland, 1989)rather than those based on phonological constraints.The research reported in this paper is directed at the issue of how our mental lexicon is organized. To explore the issue, we used a task, the crossword-puzzle-solving paradigm, that Goldblum and Frost (1988) developed for this purpose. In this task, subjects are required to solve fragmented words given semantic cues (e.g., spiteful: ___ DIC ). By manipulating the properties of the letter cues provided, it is possible to determine whether a particular property is represented in the mental lexicon. Using this procedure, Goldblum and Frost concluded that syllables play an important role in mediating word retrieval in this task and that syllables form an important part of lexical representation. However, before describing our own research using their paradigm, we review related research in the area of word recognition that also addresses the issue of lexical representation.A common assumption of many theories of word recognition is that complex words are represented in the mental lexicon in sublexical units that mediate access to the words. The nature of these sublexical units varies with the theory in question. For example, in Spoehr and Smith's (1973) model of visual word recognition, the sublexical units are assumed to be syllable-like units called
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.