EFFECTS OF SYLLABLE FREQUENCY AND SYLLABLE NEIGHBORHOOD FREQUENCY IN VISUAL WORD RECOGNITION

Three experiments were carried out to analyze the role of syllable fre quency in lexical decision and naming. The result show inhibitory effe cts af syllable frequency in the lexical decision task for both high- and low-frequency words. In contrast, the effect of syllable frequency is facilitatory in the naming tusk, a post hoc analysis revealed the important role played by the number of higher frequency syllabic neigh bors (words that share a syllable with the target) in the lexical deci sion task and the role of the frequency of the first syllable in the n aming task. Experiment 3 manipulated the neighborhood syllable frequen cy directly by comparing words with few higher frequency syllabic neig hbors and words with many higher frequency syllabic neighbors in the l exical decision task; an inhibitory neighborhood syllable frequency ef fect was found. The results are interpreted in terms of current models of visual word recognition and word naming.