=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1347/paper29
|storemode=property
|title=Visual word recognition of morphologically complex words: effects of prime word and root frequency
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1347/paper29.pdf
|volume=Vol-1347
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/networds/GiraudoO15
}}
==Visual word recognition of morphologically complex words: effects of prime word and root frequency==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1347/paper29.pdf
Visual word recognition of morphologically complex words: Effects of
prime word and root frequency
Hélène Giraudo Karla Orihuela [nam
Laboratoire CLLE (Equipe ERSS) Laboratoire CLLE (Equipe ERSS) [addr
CNRS & Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès CNRS & Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès [addr
giraudo@univ-tlse2.fr karla.orihueal@univ-tlse2.fr [addr
[e-ma
raudo & Voga, 2007; 2014; Giraudo & Grainger,
Abstract 2000; 2001; but see also Aronoff, 1994 and
Booij, 2010 for the same linguistic view) or for
The present study aims to investigate the
the access ways to the lexicon, morphology in-
relative role of the surface frequencies
fluencing the simple development of orthograph-
(i.e., token frequencies) in base word
ic representations (e.g., Duñabeitia et al., 2007;
recognition. A masked priming experi-
Rastle & Davis, 2003; Rastle et al., 2004 and see
ment was carried using two types of suf-
in the same vein Marantz, 2013). An interesting
fixed French primes: the effects of words
way to explore this issue is to use the masked
having a surface frequency (SF) higher
priming paradigm (Forster & Davis, 1984) which
than their base (e.g., cigarette – cigare)
has been designed to measure the qualitative and
were compared with those produced by
the quantitative effects induced by the prior pro-
word primes having a SF lower than their
cessing of a morphologically complex word pre-
base (e.g., froideur-froid ‘coldness-
sented visually on the subsequent processing of
cold’). Results show that HighSF are
another -target- word. Behavioural data obtained
more efficient primes than LowSF rela-
with the masked priming paradigm associated
tive to both orthographic and unrelated
with the lexical decision task revealed clear
priming baselines. This suggests that de-
strong morphological priming effects through
spite a highly salient base, whole words
various languages (Arabic: Boudelaa & Marslen-
matter more than morphemes during the
Wilson, 2001; Basque: Duñabeitia, Laka, Perea,
early processes of lexical access.
& Carreiras, 2009; English: Rastle, Davis,
1 Introduction Marslen-Wilson & Tyler, 2000; French: Giraudo
& Grainger, 2000; German and Dutch: Drews
Morphological complexity has been extensively and Zwitserlood, 1995; Greek: Voga & Grainger,
explored by psycholinguists in order to shed light 2004; Hebrew: Frost, Deutsch & Forster, 1997)
on the role of morphology in lexical structuring. but the results are still controversial when ma-
Starting from the idea - inherited from the con- nipulating the relative frequencies of the prime
nectionist theory of visual word recognition (see and the target. On the one hand, some studies
Seidenberg, 1987) - that the lexicon is comprised (Giraudo & Grainger, 2000) have revealed that
of different levels of interconnected representa- larger effects are obtained when using high in
tions reflecting the linguistics characteristics of comparison to low frequency derived primes en-
the words as well as the cognitive processes by couraging the lexeme-based approach; on the
the which complex words are recognized, the other, some authors (McCormick, Rastle, & Da-
main issue regarding lexical morphology con- vis, 2009) have failed to observe an interaction
cerns its specific role relative to word forms and between the prime frequency and morphological
semantics. Accordingly, morphology can be facilitation, strengthening the morpheme-based
though as a structuring factor either for the lexi- approach. It has been suggested that these out-
con, morphological relationships being expressed comes may be due to the fact that the methodo-
by the mapping between from and meaning re- logical procedure among experiments varies
flecting the construction of the words (e.g., Gi- (Amenta & Crepaldi, 2012), as they each use a
Copyright © by the paper’s authors. Copying permitted for private and academic purposes.
In Vito Pirrelli, Claudia Marzi, Marcello Ferro (eds.): Word Structure and Word Usage. Proceedings of the NetWordS Final
Conference, Pisa, March 30-April 1, 2015, published at http://ceur-ws.org
128
different timing for their stimulus onset asyn- general average and outliers were removed
chrony (SOA). The SOAs of the original experi- (1.4%).
ments were of 57ms in Giraudo and Grainger
(2000) and 42ms in McCormick, Rastle, & Davis Table 1: mean reaction times across the three
(2009). priming conditions and the two targets condi-
tions. Net priming effects are expressed in ms.
2 The study
In order to disentangle such findings, the present RTs Net priming effects
study was carried out using the same paradigm (U-M/O-M and U-O)
and similar SOAs as the previous ones described. HighSF M 613 +45* / + 36*
The main manipulation was to compare morpho- primes- primes
logical facilitation when the frequency of the LowSF O 649 +9
complex words (used as primes) and their roots targets primes
(used as targets) was inverted. More specifically U 658
we selected 60 base word targets from French, primes
half having systematically a surface frequency LowSF M 572 +22 / +18
higher than their derived forms (55.82 primes- primes
occ./million) and the other half a surface fre- HighSF O 590 +4
quency lower than their derived forms (10.15 targets primes
occ./million according to Lexique database, New, U 594
Pallier, & Ferrand, 2001). Each target was primes
primed by (1) a morphologically related word * : p < .05
(M, e.g., mariage-marier ‘wedding – to marry’),
(2) an orthographically related word (O, e.g., The results show a clear pattern of a morphologi-
marine-marier, ‘navy-marry’) and (3) an unrelat- cal facilitation effect (reaction times decreases
ed word (U, e.g., courage-marier, ‘courage- when the prime-target relationship is morpholog-
marry’). In both the HighSF condition and the ical, compared to orthographic and unrelated
LowSF condition, primes were matched in num- control conditions).
ber of letters (respectively 6.4 and 7 letters in A significant difference across conditions can be
average) and surface frequency (respectively observed only when the target word has a lower
6.48 and 40.64 occ./million in average). Primes frequency than the primes. Statistical analysis
were presented according to two frame durations showed that the critical net priming effects (dif-
(SOAs), 48 and 66ms to examine the time-course ference between the reaction times for morpho-
of priming. Three experimental lists were con- logical primes against orthographic and unrelated
structed using a Latin square in order to present control ones) for HighSF primes - LowSF targets
each target once only. was of 45* and 36*ms (respectively).
Twenty-five students at the University of Tou- When looking at the LowSF-primes and HighFs
louse participated in the experiment. All the par- targets the RTs differences of the net priming
ticipants were native speakers of French and effects previously described, where not statisti-
their average age was 26 (7.23 sd). They were all cally significant Morphological facilitation ef-
right handed and had normal to corrected-to- fects seem to be larger when the frequency of the
normal vision. The experiment lasted around 40 prime is higher than the frequency of the target,
minutes and in exchange for their time, partici- regardless of the SOA used.
pants received a 4 Giga USB key.
The results are presented in Table 1. As we 2. Conclusion
didn’t find any effect of the frame duration, we The results of the present study are in line with
decided to present the averaged RTs. the previously found by Giraudo and Grainger
Mistaken answers were not considered for the (2000), showing differential priming effects
statistical analysis (2.8% of the data), neither when the surface frequency of the prime is ma-
were reaction times lower than 250ms and over nipulated. The absence of a morphological prim-
1500ms (1% of the data). Cut-offs for the rest of ing effect in the High frequency M-primes/Low
the data were set to 2.5 standard deviations from frequency targets contrasted with the strong sig-
129
nificant priming effects obtained with the Low Giraudo, H. & Grainger, J. (2000). Effects of Prime
frequency M-primes/High frequency targets, word frequency in masked morphological and or-
suggests competition effects to the detriment of thographic priming. Language and Cognitive Pro-
an obligatory decomposition process. According cesses, 15, 421-444.
to this view both low and high frequency targets Giraudo, H., & Grainger, J. (2001). Priming complex
should have benefit from the prior presentation words: Evidence for supralexical representation of
of a morphologically related word, but the results morphology. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,
revealed this was not the case. Only base targets 8(1), 127-131.
having a surface frequency lower than the sur- Giraudo, H. & Voga, M. (2007). Lexeme-Based
face frequency of their derivation were signifi- Model vs. Morpheme-Based Model from Psycho-
cantly facilitated relative to both the orthographic linguistic Perspectives. In F. Montermini, G. Boyé,
and the unrelated conditions (+45 and +36ms). and N. Hathout (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the
We interpret these data as an evidence of a com- 5th Décembrettes: Morphology in Toulouse, pp.
petition process among the word forms at the 108-114. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings
Project.
word level.
Giraudo, H. & Voga, M. (2014). Measuring morphol-
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