Time course of frequency effects in spoken-word recognition: Evidence fromeye movements

In two experiments, eye movements were monitored as participants followed s poken instructions to click on and move pictures with a computer mouse. In Experiment 1, a referent picture (e.g., the picture of a bench) was present ed along with three pictures, two of which had names that shared the same i nitial phonemes as the name of the referent (e.g., bed and bell). Participa nts were more likely to fixate the picture with the higher frequency name ( bed) than the picture with the lower frequency name (bell). In Experiment 2 , referent pictures were presented with three unrelated distracters. Fixati on latencies to referents with high-frequency names were shorter than those to referents with low-frequency names. The proportion of fixations to the referents and distracters were analyzed in 33-ms time slices to provide fin e-grained information about the time course of frequency effects. These ana lyses established that frequency affects the earliest moments of lexical ac cess and rule out a late-acting, decision-bias locus for frequency. Simulat ions using models in which frequency operates on resting-activation levels, on connection strengths, and as a postactivation decision bias provided fu rther constraints on the locus of frequency effects. (C) 2001 Academic Pres s.