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Related Experiment Videos

Concreteness and context availability in lexical decision tasks.

Shelly Levy-Drori1, Avishai Henik

  • 1Department of Behavioral Sciences and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

The American Journal of Psychology
|March 23, 2006
PubMed
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The concreteness (C) effect in word recognition is influenced by context availability (CA) and word familiarity (FAM). Controlling for these factors is crucial for understanding the C effect in lexical decision tasks.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Experimental Psychology

Background:

  • The concreteness (C) effect, where concrete words are processed faster than abstract words in lexical decision tasks, is a well-documented phenomenon.
  • Previous research, such as the context availability (CA) hypothesis, has proposed explanations for the C effect.
  • However, the roles of word familiarity (FAM) and CA in modulating the C effect require further clarification.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the origins of the concreteness (C) effect in lexical decision tasks.
  • To determine the relative contributions of context availability (CA) and word familiarity (FAM) to the C effect.
  • To refine theoretical explanations of the C effect, potentially revising the dual-coding theory.

Main Methods:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Conducted three experiments manipulating concreteness (C), context availability (CA), and familiarity (FAM) in a lexical decision task.
  • Experiment 1 replicated previous findings, examining the dominance of CA and the influence of FAM.
  • Experiments 2 and 3 systematically controlled for FAM and CA, respectively, to isolate their effects on the C effect.

    • Main Results:

    • Experiment 1 suggested CA was dominant, but FAM explained the disappearance of the C effect when CA was matched.
    • Experiment 2, controlling for FAM, revealed a significant C effect even when CA was matched.
    • Experiment 3, controlling for both C and FAM, demonstrated a clear CA effect.

    Conclusions:

    • The findings underscore the critical importance of controlling for both word familiarity (FAM) and context availability (CA) when examining the concreteness (C) effect.
    • The results support a revised dual-coding theory, integrating the roles of C, CA, and FAM in word processing.
    • Accurate assessment of the C effect necessitates careful experimental design that accounts for these interacting factors.