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Context effects in lexical access: a meta-analysis.

M Lucas1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, MA 02481, USA. mlucas@wellesley.edu

Memory & Cognition
|June 4, 1999
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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This review of early lexical processing found context has a small effect on word recognition, challenging the modularity hypothesis. The contextually appropriate word meaning was consistently more activated.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • The modularity hypothesis posits that early lexical processing is encapsulated and unaffected by context.
  • Investigating context effects in word recognition is crucial for understanding language processing models.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the modularity hypothesis by synthesizing evidence on context effects in early lexical processing.
  • To determine the overall impact of context on accessing word meanings.

Main Methods:

  • A systematic review of 25 studies on context effects in early lexical processing.
  • Inclusion criteria focused on priming studies with specific prime-target word presentation timings.
  • Meta-analysis was performed on 17 studies with calculable effect sizes.

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Main Results:

  • A small, but significant, effect of context on lexical access was observed across studies.
  • While multiple word interpretations could be accessed, the contextually relevant meaning was consistently more activated.
  • No significant heterogeneity of variance was found, suggesting sampling error as the primary source of variability.

Conclusions:

  • The findings disconfirm the strict modularity hypothesis in early lexical processing.
  • Context plays a role in biasing lexical access towards appropriate meanings.
  • Potential moderator variables influencing context effects include task, timing, meaning frequency, and context type.