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The acquisition of morphological knowledge investigated through artificial language learning
Marjolein Merkx1, Kathleen Rastle, Matthew H Davis
1Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|January 29, 2011
Summary
Acquiring knowledge of word affixes is possible through form or semantic learning. Developing lasting lexicalized representations requires semantic input and offline consolidation.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Affix knowledge is crucial for visual word recognition.
- Limited understanding exists regarding the acquisition process of affixes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the acquisition of novel affixes.
- To explore the roles of semantic information and long-term consolidation in affix learning.
Main Methods:
- Participants were trained on novel affixes within novel word contexts.
- Experiment 1 compared form-learning with semantic-learning conditions.
- Experiment 2 assessed affix knowledge at two days and two months post-training.
Main Results:
- Episodic knowledge of affixes was acquired after a single training session via form or semantic learning.
- Lexicalized affix representations required semantic information during learning.
- A significant period of offline consolidation was necessary for robust learning.
Conclusions:
- Episodic affix knowledge is rapidly acquired.
- The development of stable, lexicalized affix representations is dependent on semantic input and consolidation.
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