Lexical Context Effects During Reading: The Impact of Vocabulary Knowledge and Word Frequency

Skilled readers are thought to rely on bottom-up processing to activate word meanings in long-term memory from their form (i.e., spelling or sound) in a process described as 'context-free' lexical processing. However, other research suggests skilled readers recognize words faster when they appear in predictable and/or plausible contexts, despite efficient bottom-up processing. Research on individual differences in skilled comprehension suggests skilled readers only use context to support word recognition when bottom-up processing is slow. Therefore, highly skilled readers may not rely on context, but less-skilled readers may continue to rely on context during word recognition due to poor bottom-up processing. The current study investigated whether individual differences in lexical quality would influence contextual processing during word recognition. Participants' eye movements were tracked as they read sentences containing either a high-frequency (e.g., baby) or low-frequency (e.g., elbow) target word preceded by either a related prime word (mother-baby) or an unrelated control word (teeth-elbow). Results show relatedness had a significant effect on readers across the range of lexical knowledge; however, the specific effect depended on both vocabulary and target word frequency. The results suggest that context supports word recognition and comprehension when readers have adequate vocabulary.