Haskins Publications

Number	1410
Year	2005
Drawer	26
Entry Date	04/08/2008
Authors	Frost, R., Kugler, T., Deutsch, A., & Forster, K.I.
Contact
Publication	Journal of Experiemtnal Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, V. 31:No. 6(2005), pp. 1293-1326.
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1410.pdf
Abstract	Most models of visual word recognition in alphabetic orthographies assume that words are lexically organized according to orthographic similarity. Support for this is provided by form-priming experiments that demonstrate robust facilitation when primes and targets share similar sequences of letters. The authors examined writing system but a Semitic morphological structure. Hebrew morphemic units are composed of noncontiguous phonemic (and letter) sequences in a given word. Results demonstrate that form-priming effects in Hebrew or Arabic are unreliable, whereas morphological priming effects with minimal letter overlap are robust. Hebrew bilingual subjects, by contrast, showed robust form-priming effects with English material, suggesting that Semitic words are lexically organized by morphological rather than orthographic principles. The authors conclude that morphology can constrain lexical organization even in alphabetic orthographies and that visual processing of words is first determined by morphological characteristics.
Notes