Frequency effects in lexical decisions: A test of the verification model.

Abstract

Lexical decisions about high-frequency words are faster than about low-frequency words. It has been suggested that the locus of this effect is in a verification stage in which a frequency-ordered comparison takes place that requires the continuous availability of a sensory representation of the stimulus. This proposal was tested in a series of four lexical decision studies. In the first, high- and low-frequency words and nonword stimuli remained visible until subjects responded. In the second, the stimuli were illuminated for only one retrace on a video monitor (16.7 ms), and in the third the single retrace was followed by a pattern mask 50 ms later. The latter two conditions have been suggested as manipulations that would eliminate the verification stage of recognition. Nevertheless, the effect of word frequency on decision latencies was comparable in all three studies. Data from a fourth study eliminated orthographic regularity as a factor contributing to the obtained frequency effect. The data suggest that frequency has its effects prior to verification and that the notion of verification as the sole basis for frequency effects needs to be revised.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 28 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.