The effect of constituent frequency and distractor type on learning novel complex words

ABSTRACT

The present study explored the role of constituent frequency and distractor type in complex word learning. Skilled readers were trained to associate novel letter strings with one out of two pictures, with one picture serving as the target, and the other as a distractor. A facilitatory effect of first-constituent frequency was found only in trials where distractors promoted first-constituent learning, and a facilitatory effect of second-constituent frequency only in trials where distractors promoted second-constituent learning, but not vice versa. Learning occurred in the absence of any pre-existing knowledge about the constituent morphemes and any explicit reference to the constituents during learning. The results point to the important role of constituent frequency and distractor type in novel word learning and provide insights into the mechanisms involved in the implicit acquisition of morphological knowledge in adult learners, that we suspect to be a key aspect of language learning in general.

KEYWORDS:

• Novel word learning
• constituent frequency
• distractor type
• morphological knowledge

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Materials, data and analyses scripts have been made available under the following link: https://osf.io/r3cdf/?view_only = c9bd1f5142724e59878d14d5deae8cb0.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the center of excellence on Language, Communication and the Brain (France2030, ANR-16-CONV-0002), the Excellence Initiative of Aix-Marseille University A*MIDEX (ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02), and the pilot center for teacher training and research in education (AMPIRIC). The research was directly funded through an ANR grant (MORPHEME ANR-15-FRAL-0003-01) with additional support from ERC grant 742141 awarded to JG. EB was supported by a FYSSEN Fellowship.