Evidence for embedded word length effects in complex nonwords

ABSTRACT

Recent evidence points to the important role of embedded word activations in visual word recognition. The present study asked how the reading system prioritises word identification when not just one, but two different words are embedded within the same position. This question was addressed by using a masked primed lexical decision task (Experiment 1) with target words embedded in nonword primes (tea or team in teamaction). Results revealed priming independently of the length, position, or morphological status of the embedded word. However, when primes were used as targets within a word naming task (Experiment 2), participants were more likely to name the longer than the shorter embedded word, independent of morphological status. Our results suggest that the reading system gives priority to longer embedded words, which we discuss in the context of recent theories of visual word recognition.

KEYWORDS:

• Masked priming
• lexical decision
• word naming
• embedded word identification
• embedded word length

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) by the Australian Research Council (ARC) to EB (DE190100850). It also benefited from support from the French government, managed by the French National Agency for Research (ANR), including Labex BLRI (ANR-11-LABX-0036), the Institute of Convergence ILCB (ANR-16-CONV-0002), Investments of the Future A*MIDEX (ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02), and (ANR-15-FRAL-0003-01, MORPHEME). JG was supported by a grant from the European Research Council (742141).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) by the Australian Research Council (ARC) to EB (DE190100850). It also benefited from support from the French government, managed by the French National Agency for Research (ANR), including Labex BLRI (ANR-11-LABX-0036), ILCB (ANR-16-CONV-0002), Investments for the Future A*MIDEX (ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02), and ANR-15-FRAL-0003-01, MORPHEME. JG was supported by a grant from the European Research Council (742141).