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Perceptual distance and competition in lexical access
W Marslen-Wilson1, H E Moss, S van Halen
1Centre for Speech and Language, Birkbeck College, University of London, England. w.marslen-wilson@psyc.bbk.ac.uk
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|December 1, 1996
Summary
This study on lexical access reveals that speech perception relies on precise bottom-up matching of sounds, not just surrounding word context. Phonological similarity is key for understanding spoken words.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Science
- Speech Perception
Background:
- Lexical access, the process of retrieving words from memory, is influenced by various factors.
- Understanding the precise mechanisms of auditory lexical access remains a key research question.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of phonological similarity and lexical competition in auditory lexical access.
- To determine whether perceptual experience is driven by strict bottom-up acoustic-phonetic matching or influenced by lexical context.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments utilized rhyme priming (intramodal and cross-modal) to examine lexical decision-making.
- Phonological distance between primes and targets, and the presence of lexical competitors, were manipulated.
Main Results:
- Phonological distance significantly impacted lexical access, while the presence of competitors did not.
- Ambiguous rhyme primes could match source words, but only within appropriate lexical contexts.
Conclusions:
- Auditory lexical access prioritizes strict bottom-up acoustic-phonetic matching of speech input.
- Lexical competitor environments do not directly influence the real-time computation of word recognition goodness-of-fit.