Abstract
Most empirical work investigating the role of syllable frequency in visual word recognition has focused on the Spanish language, in which syllable frequency seems to produce a classic dissociation: inhibition in lexical decision tasks but facilitation in naming. In the present study, two experiments were run in German, using identical stimulus materials, in a lexical decision task and a naming task. In both tasks, there was an inhibitory effect for words with a high-frequency first syllable. This pattern of results, suggesting a stronger weight of lexical access in the naming process in German than in Spanish, is discussed with regard to the issue of stress assignment in the two languages and within the framework of word production models. Items, mean response latencies, and accuracy rates per item for both experiments can be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.
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This research was supported by two grants to A.M.J. from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Ja 823/3-1/Jacobs “Zur Rolle phonologischer Prozesse beim Lesen komplexer Wörter: Ein sprachvergleichender Ansatz”) and from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (Acciones Integradas Hispano—Alemanas D/03/39324).
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Conrad, M., Stenneken, P. & Jacobs, A.M. Associated or dissociated effects of syllable frequency in lexical decision and naming. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 13, 339–345 (2006). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193854
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193854