Psycholinguistics · English Literature

In the context of lexical access, what does the 'Word Frequency Effect' demonstrate?

Longer words are processed faster than shorter ones due to more visual cues
Words that appear often are recognized and processed faster than rare words
The brain deletes rare words from memory after five years of non-use
High-pitched words trigger faster neural responses than low-pitched ones

Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: Words that appear often are recognized and processed faster than rare words

The Word Frequency Effect is a well-established finding showing that frequently encountered words have lower activation thresholds in the mental lexicon. As a result, in experimental settings like lexical decision tasks, participants identify common words much quicker than unusual ones. This effect helps researchers map how words are stored and ranked in human memory.

Difficulty: Medium Question 6 of 12

Practice all 12 Psycholinguistics questions

In the context of lexical access, what does the 'Word Frequency Effect' demonstrate?

More Psycholinguistics questions