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Updated: Apr 14, 2026
Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
Published on: June 29, 2021
Lexical mediation of phonotactic frequency effects on spoken word recognition: A Granger causality analysis of
1Neuropsychology Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, 175 Cambridge St., CPZ S340, Boston, MA 02114 ; Department of Psychology, Salem State University, 352 Lafayette St., Salem, MA 01970 ; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 Thirteenth St., S2301, Charlestown, MA.02129 ; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., E25-519, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Abstract:
Phonotactic frequency effects play a crucial role in a number of debates over language processing and representation. It is unclear however, whether these effects reflect prelexical sensitivity to phonotactic frequency, or lexical "gang effects" in speech perception. In this paper, we use Granger causality analysis of MR-constrained MEG/EEG data to understand how phonotactic frequency influences neural processing dynamics during auditory lexical decision. Effective connectivity analysis showed weaker feedforward influence from brain regions involved in acoustic-phonetic processing (superior temporal gyrus) to lexical areas (supramarginal gyrus) for high phonotactic frequency words, but stronger top-down lexical influence for the same items. Low entropy nonwords (nonwords judged to closely resemble real words) showed a similar pattern of interactions between brain regions involved in lexical and acoustic-phonetic processing. These results contradict the predictions of a feedforward model of phonotactic frequency facilitation, but support the predictions of a lexically mediated account.
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