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Taikh A, Gagné CL, Spalding TL. Influence of the constituent morpheme boundary on compound word access. Mem Cognit 2024; 52:680-723. [PMID: 38051458 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-023-01494-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
Embedded morphemes are thought to become available during the processing of multi-morphemic words, and impact access to the whole word. According to the edge-aligned embedded word activation theory Grainger & Beyersmann, (2017), embedded morphemes receive activation when the whole word can be decomposed into constituent morphemes. Thus, interfering with morphological decomposition also interferes with access to the embedded morphemes. Numerous studies have examined the effects of interfering with boundary and constituent-internal letters on morphological decomposition by comparing the effect of transposing letters at the morphemic boundary to constituent-internal letters. These studies, which report inconsistent findings, have typically used derived multi-morphemic words (e.g., cleaner), and sometimes use a control replacement letter condition that is not matched to the transposed letter conditions in terms of location. Across five experiments, we test the edge-aligned activation theory by examining the effects of replacing and transposing boundary and constituent-internal letters of compounds. Our findings suggest that replacing boundary letters interferes with access to both embedded constituents, while replacing constituent-internal letters still allows for access to the unaltered constituent, thus compensating for the interference in the altered constituent. Our findings are consistent with the edge-aligned theory with respect to letter replacement, and also imply that letter replacement must match the position of letter transposition when it is used as a control condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Taikh
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University of Edmonton, 7128 Ada Blvd NW, Edmonton, Alberta, T5B 4E4, Canada.
| | - Christina L Gagné
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, P-217 Biological Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E9, Canada.
| | - Thomas L Spalding
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, P-217 Biological Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E9, Canada
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Rosenberg L, Kruk RS. Coarse or fine? Grain size and morpho-orthographic segmentation in struggling readers. ANNALS OF DYSLEXIA 2022; 72:28-55. [PMID: 34491534 DOI: 10.1007/s11881-021-00240-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Morpho-orthographic segmentation, rapid parsing of complex written words into their morphological components, is a potential source of difference in word recognition between struggling and typical readers. Although typical readers use morpho-semantic representations and morpho-orthographic segmentation in processing morphologically complex words, struggling readers typically rely on morpho-semantic processes involving coarse-grained processing of whole-word units rather than morpho-orthographic segmentation involving fine-grained letter processing. We tested this limitation in struggling readers, examining reading-ability differences among chronological-age, reading-age, and adult groups in morpho-orthographic segmentation in a primed lexical decision task. We transposed letter order across the morphological boundary of complex-word primes, focusing on disruption in priming effects of morphological and pseudo-orthographic primes that involved only orthographic overlap with target words. Morpho-semantic (coarse-grained) processing in Grade 2 typical readers was indicated by no moderation of priming effects by suffix types and letter transposition. By Grade 6, evidence of emerging fine grained analysis was found in both groups, with clear evidence of both coarse and fine grained analysis in adults. Grade 6 struggling readers showed comparable patterns of coarse and fine grained analysis as Grade 6 typical readers. Although they experienced generalized priming effects, struggling readers did experience response time disruption with transposed primes, indicating that they, like Grade 6 typical readers, adopt fine-grained processing perhaps as a precursor of emerging morpho-orthographic segmentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay Rosenberg
- Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Richard S Kruk
- Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada.
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Cong F, Chen B. The letter position coding mechanism of second language words during sentence reading: Evidence from eye movements. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2021; 75:1932-1947. [PMID: 34806482 DOI: 10.1177/17470218211064539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
We conducted three eye movement experiments to investigate the mechanism for coding letter positions in a person's second language during sentence reading; we also examined the role of morphology in this process with a more rigorous manipulation. Given that readers obtain information not only from currently fixated words (i.e., the foveal area) but also from upcoming words (i.e., the parafoveal area) to guide their reading, we examined both when the targets were fixated (Exp. 1) and when the targets were seen parafoveally (Exps. 2 and 3). First, we found the classic transposed letter (TL) effect in Exp. 1, but not in Exp. 2 or 3. This implies that flexible letter position coding exists during sentence reading. However, this was limited to words located in the foveal area, suggesting that L2 readers whose L2 proficiency is not as high as skilled native readers are not able to extract and utilise the parafoveal letter identity and position information of a word, whether the word length is long (Exp. 2) or short (Exp. 3). Second, we found morphological information to influence the magnitude of the TL effect in Exp. 1. These results provide new eye movement evidence for the flexibility of L2 letter position coding during sentence reading, as well as the interactions between the different internal representations of words in this process. Future L2 reading frameworks should integrate word recognition and eye movement control models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fengjiao Cong
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Baoguo Chen
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Beyersmann E, Montani V, Ziegler JC, Grainger J, Stoianov IP. The dynamics of reading complex words: evidence from steady-state visual evoked potentials. Sci Rep 2021; 11:15919. [PMID: 34354144 PMCID: PMC8342500 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95292-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The present study used steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) to examine the spatio-temporal dynamics of reading morphologically complex words and test the neurophysiological activation pattern elicited by stems and suffixes. Three different types of target words were presented to proficient readers in a delayed naming task: truly suffixed words (e.g., farmer), pseudo-suffixed words (e.g., corner), and non-suffixed words (e.g., cashew). Embedded stems and affixes were flickered at two different frequencies (18.75 Hz and 12.50 Hz, respectively). The stem data revealed an earlier SSVEP peak in the truly suffixed and pseudo-suffixed conditions compared to the non-suffixed condition, thus providing evidence for the form-based activation of embedded stems during reading. The suffix data also showed a dissociation in the SSVEP response between suffixes and non-suffixes with an additional activation boost for truly suffixed words. The observed differences are discussed in the context of current models of complex word recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth Beyersmann
- grid.1004.50000 0001 2158 5405Department of Cognitive Science and Macquarie Centre for Reading, Macquarie University, Australian Hearing Hub, 16 University Avenue, Sydney, NSW 2109 Australia
| | - Veronica Montani
- grid.5611.30000 0004 1763 1124Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine, and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Johannes C. Ziegler
- grid.428531.9Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille University and Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France
| | - Jonathan Grainger
- grid.428531.9Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille University and Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France
| | - Ivilin Peev Stoianov
- grid.428479.40000 0001 2297 9633Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Padova, Italy
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Zeng T, Han B, Zhai M, Mu Y. The effect of language proficiency on L2 English learners' processing of morphologically complex words: Evidence from masked transposed letter priming. Neurosci Lett 2019; 704:84-88. [PMID: 30943429 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2019.03.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2018] [Revised: 03/20/2019] [Accepted: 03/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The relative sequence of morphological decomposition and whole-word recognition during morphologically complex word (MCW) processing has attracted much attention in recent years. However, most studies have only focused on inflected and derived words while disregarding compound words, and have mainly examined the differences between native speakers and L2 learners without addressing language proficiency levels. This paper investigates the language proficiency effect on L2 English learners' processing of all the three types of MCWs in a masked transposed letter priming paradigm. Results showed that the high proficiency learners adhered to the Post-lexical Model in general, while the low proficiency learners presented a blurred tendency due to their poor whole-word memory and overall processing efficiency. Different morphological types caused gradable priming effects with compounds on the top of the continuum. In sum, language proficiency as well as morphological types impacts L2 learners' MCW processing mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Zeng
- College of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, PR China.
| | - Baijing Han
- College of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, PR China
| | - Menghui Zhai
- Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650000, PR China
| | - Yating Mu
- College of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, PR China
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Abstract
According to an obligatory decomposition account of polymorphemic word recognition, a nonword that is composed of a real word plus derivational affix (e.g., teachen) should prime its stem (TEACH) to the same extent that a truly suffixed word does (e.g., teacher). The stem will be activated in both cases after the suffix is removed prior to the lexical status of the letter-string being of relevance. Importantly, disruption to the stem and suffix through letter transposition should have the same impact on the nonwords and words, with teacehn and teacehr equally priming TEACH. However, an experiment by Diependaele, Morris, Serota, Bertrand, and Grainger (2013) found that the equivalent priming for nonwords and words only occurred when they were intact. When letters were transposed, only the truly derived words showed priming. Since such a result cannot be handled by an obligatory decomposition account, it is important to replicate it. Therefore, the present study repeated the conditions of Diependaele et al. (2013), along with a nonword condition where the stem was followed by a non-suffix (e.g., teachin or teacihn). It was found that priming was maintained across all conditions regardless of letter transposition, hence maintaining obligatory decomposition as a viable account. However, the findings with the non-suffixed nonwords led to the conclusion that morphological structure does not control decomposition, but rather, has its impact after form-based components of the letter-string have been activated.
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Zargar ES, Witzel N. Transposed-Letter Priming Across Inflectional Morpheme Boundaries. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2017; 46:125-140. [PMID: 27026537 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-016-9423-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
This study reports findings from two experiments testing whether a transposed-letter (TL) priming effect can be obtained when the transposition occurs across morphological boundaries. Previous studies have primarily tested derivationally complex words or compound words, but have not examined a more rule-based and productive morphological structure, i.e., inflectionally complex words, using masked priming. Experiment 1 tested TL priming with nonword primes and inflected targets (FOCUSING). Nonword primes were formed by transposing letters either within the root morpheme (fcousing) or across two morphemes (focuisng). Experiment 2 used the same nonword primes, but had the root words as targets (FOCUS). Both experiments showed similar TL priming effects for within-morpheme and across-boundary positions, indicating that morphological decomposition takes place only after letter positions in a word have been assigned. This finding provides additional evidence to previous research testing derived and compound words showing TL priming regardless of the position of transposition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Shafiee Zargar
- Department of Linguistics and TESOL, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA.
| | - Naoko Witzel
- Department of Linguistics and TESOL, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA
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Giraudo H, Dal Maso S. The Salience of Complex Words and Their Parts: Which Comes First? Front Psychol 2016; 7:1778. [PMID: 27917133 PMCID: PMC5116555 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2016] [Accepted: 10/31/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper deals with the impact of the salience of complex words and their constituent parts on lexical access. While almost 40 years of psycholinguistic studies have focused on the relevance of morphological structure for word recognition, little attention has been devoted to the relationship between the word as a whole unit and its constituent morphemes. Depending on the theoretical approach adopted, complex words have been seen either in the light of their paradigmatic environment (i.e., from a paradigmatic view), or in terms of their internal structure (i.e., from a syntagmatic view). These two competing views have strongly determined the choice of experimental factors manipulated in studies on morphological processing (mainly different lexical frequencies, word/non-word structure, and morphological family size). Moreover, work on various kinds of more or less segmentable items (from genuinely morphologically complex words like hunter to words exhibiting only a surface morphological structure like corner and irregular forms like thieves) has given rise to two competing hypotheses on the cognitive role of morphology. The first hypothesis claims that morphology organizes whole words into morphological families and series, while the second sets morphology at a pre-lexical level, with morphemes standing as access units to the mental lexicon. The present paper examines more deeply the notion of morphological salience and its implications for theories and models of morphological processing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Serena Dal Maso
- Department of Cultures and Civilizations, University of Verona Verona, Italy
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Medeiros J, Duñabeitia JA. Not Everybody Sees the Ness in the Darkness: Individual Differences in Masked Suffix Priming. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1585. [PMID: 27790180 PMCID: PMC5063847 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2016] [Accepted: 09/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study explores the role of individual differences in polymorphemic word recognition. Participants completed a masked priming lexical decision experiment on suffixed words in which targets could be preceded by suffix-related words (words sharing the same suffix) or by affixed primes with a different suffix. Participants also completed a monomorphemic word lexical decision and were divided in two groups (fast and slow readers) according to their performance in this task. When the suffix priming data were analyzed taking into consideration participants' reading speed as a proxy for their greater reliance on orthography or on semantics, a significant interaction between reading speed and the magnitude of the masked suffix priming effects emerged. Only slow participants showed significant priming effects, whereas faster participants showed negligible masked suffix priming effects. These results demonstrate that different reading profiles modulate the access to morphological information in a qualitatively different manner and that individual differences in reading determine the manner in which polymorphemic words are processed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joyse Medeiros
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language Donostia, Spain
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Stites MC, Federmeier KD, Christianson K. Do Morphemes Matter when Reading Compound Words with Transposed Letters? Evidence from Eye-Tracking and Event-Related Potentials. LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE 2016; 31:1299-1319. [PMID: 28791313 PMCID: PMC5544032 DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2016.1212082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2015] [Accepted: 07/04/2016] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The current study investigates the online processing consequences of encountering compound words with transposed letters (TLs), to determine if TLs that cross morpheme boundaries are more disruptive to reading than those within a single morpheme, as would be predicted by accounts of obligatory morpho-orthopgrahic decomposition. Two measures of online processing, eye movements and event-related potentials (ERPs), were collected in separate experiments. Participants read sentences containing correctly spelled compound words (cupcake), or compounds with TLs occurring either across morpheme boundaries (cucpake) or within one morpheme (cupacke). Results showed that between- and within-morpheme transpositions produced equal processing costs in both measures, in the form of longer reading times (Experiment 1) and a late posterior positivity (Experiment 2) that did not differ between conditions. Findings converge to suggest that within- and between-morpheme TLs are equally disruptive to recognition, providing evidence against obligatory morpho-orthographic processing and in favor of whole-word access of English compound words during sentence reading.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kara D. Federmeier
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Program in Neuroscience, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
| | - Kiel Christianson
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
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The effects of character transposition within and across words in Chinese reading. Atten Percept Psychophys 2014; 77:272-81. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-014-0749-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Letter transpositions within and across morphemic boundaries: is there a cross-language difference? Psychon Bull Rev 2013; 20:988-96. [PMID: 23543423 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-013-0425-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Research on the impact of letter transpositions that arise across morpheme boundaries has yielded conflicting results. These results have led to the suggestion that a cross-linguistic difference may exist in the recognition of Spanish and English words. In two masked-priming experiments run on separate groups of Spanish and English speakers, we tested this hypothesis by comparing the impacts of primes with letter transpositions that arose within morphemes or across morpheme boundaries on the recognition of identical or near-identical Spanish-English cognate targets. The results showed transposed-letter benefits in both Spanish and English that were not modulated by the position of the transposed letter in the prime stimulus. Our findings therefore add to the growing body of literature suggesting that the transposed-letter benefit is not affected by the position of the transposed letters relative to the morpheme boundary, and they dispel previous suggestions that there might be a genuine difference in orthographic coding across the Spanish and English writing systems.
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