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Contextual diversity, not word frequency, determines word-naming and lexical decision times
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Adelman, James S. , Brown, G. D. A. (Gordon D. A.) and Quesada, José F (2006) Contextual diversity, not word frequency, determines word-naming and lexical decision times. Psychological Science, Vol.17 (No.9). pp. 814-823. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01787.x ISSN 0956-7976.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01787.x
Abstract
Word frequency is an important predictor of word-naming and lexical decision times. It is, however, confounded with contextual diversity, the number of contexts in which a word has been seen. In a study using a normative, corpus-based measure of contextual diversity, word-frequency effects were eliminated when effects of contextual diversity were taken into account (but not vice versa) across three naming and three lexical decision data sets; the same pattern of results was obtained regardless of which of three corpora was used to derive the frequency and contextual-diversity values. The results are incompatible with existing models of visual word recognition, which attribute frequency effects directly to frequency, and are particularly problematic for accounts in which frequency effects reflect learning. We argue that the results reflect the importance of likely need in memory processes, and that the continuity between reading and memory suggests using principles from memory research to inform theories of reading.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology | ||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Language and languages -- Research, Language and languages -- Word frequency | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Psychological Science | ||||
Publisher: | Blackwell Publishing | ||||
ISSN: | 0956-7976 | ||||
Official Date: | 18 September 2006 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Vol.17 | ||||
Number: | No.9 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 814-823 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01787.x | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||
Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC), Leverhulme Trust (LT), University of Warwick | ||||
Grant number: | RES 000221558 and PTA 026270716 (ESRC), F/215/AY (Leverhulme) |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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