Lexical knowledge in word recognition: Word length and word frequency in naming and lexical decision tasks
article
K. I. Forster and S. M. Chambers (1973, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12, 627-635) proposed that making lexical decisions to words and naming words access the same representations of those words in the mental lexicon. It is shown that the correlation between stimuli over tasks is due to word length in letters rather than word frequency. Further experiments with orthographically illegal nonwords and orthographically legal but unwordlike nonwords show that lexical decisions need not be influenced by word length but are influenced by word frequency. This suggests that the letter length effect is due to a postaccess spelling check. Finally, blocked naming, of words only, produces results similar to lexical decision, without length effects but with frequency effects indicative of lexical access. These results suggest two separate and independent routes to word naming, both of which are mediated by lexical knowledge.
TNO Identifier
6082
Source
Journal of Memory and Language, 24(1), pp. 46-58.
Pages
46-58
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