Word frequency effects in naturalistic reading

ABSTRACT

Word frequency is a central psycholinguistic variable that accounts for substantial variance in language processing. A number of neuroimaging studies have examined frequency at a single word level, typically demonstrating a strong negative, and sometimes positive correlation between frequency and hemodynamic response. Here, 40 subjects read passages of text in an MRI scanner while their eye movements were recorded. We used fixation-related analysis to identify neural activity tied to the frequency of each fixated word. We found that negative correlations with frequency were reduced, while strong positive correlations were found in the temporal and parietal areas associated with semantics. We propose that the processing cost of low frequency words is reduced due to contextual cues. Meanings of high frequency words are more readily accessed and integrated with context resulting in enhanced processing in the semantic system. The results demonstrate similarities and differences between single word and naturalistic text processing.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural language processing
• word frequency
• semantics
• reading

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders [grant number R01 DC010783]; National Institute of Aging [grant number R56 AG053346]; National Research Foundation of Korea [grant numbers NRF-2017R1C1B5014973, NRF-2017S1A3A2066319].