Cargando…

Slower Perception Followed by Faster Lexical Decision in Longer Words: A Diffusion Model Analysis

Effects of stimulus length on reaction times (RTs) in the lexical decision task are the topic of extensive research. While slower RTs are consistently found for longer pseudo-words, a finding coined the word length effect (WLE), some studies found no effects for words, and yet others reported faster...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Oganian, Yulia, Froehlich, Eva, Schlickeiser, Ulrike, Hofmann, Markus J., Heekeren, Hauke R., Jacobs, Arthur M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4700557/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26779075
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01958
_version_ 1782408336338059264
author Oganian, Yulia
Froehlich, Eva
Schlickeiser, Ulrike
Hofmann, Markus J.
Heekeren, Hauke R.
Jacobs, Arthur M.
author_facet Oganian, Yulia
Froehlich, Eva
Schlickeiser, Ulrike
Hofmann, Markus J.
Heekeren, Hauke R.
Jacobs, Arthur M.
author_sort Oganian, Yulia
collection PubMed
description Effects of stimulus length on reaction times (RTs) in the lexical decision task are the topic of extensive research. While slower RTs are consistently found for longer pseudo-words, a finding coined the word length effect (WLE), some studies found no effects for words, and yet others reported faster RTs for longer words. Moreover, the WLE depends on the orthographic transparency of a language, with larger effects in more transparent orthographies. Here we investigate processes underlying the WLE in lexical decision in German-English bilinguals using a diffusion model (DM) analysis, which we compared to a linear regression approach. In the DM analysis, RT-accuracy distributions are characterized using parameters that reflect latent sub-processes, in particular evidence accumulation and decision-independent perceptual encoding, instead of typical parameters such as mean RT and accuracy. The regression approach showed a decrease in RTs with length for pseudo-words, but no length effect for words. However, DM analysis revealed that the null effect for words resulted from opposing effects of length on perceptual encoding and rate of evidence accumulation. Perceptual encoding times increased with length for words and pseudo-words, whereas the rate of evidence accumulation increased with length for real words but decreased for pseudo-words. A comparison between DM parameters in German and English suggested that orthographic transparency affects perceptual encoding, whereas effects of length on evidence accumulation are likely to reflect contextual information and the increase in available perceptual evidence with length. These opposing effects may account for the inconsistent findings on WLEs.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4700557
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-47005572016-01-15 Slower Perception Followed by Faster Lexical Decision in Longer Words: A Diffusion Model Analysis Oganian, Yulia Froehlich, Eva Schlickeiser, Ulrike Hofmann, Markus J. Heekeren, Hauke R. Jacobs, Arthur M. Front Psychol Psychology Effects of stimulus length on reaction times (RTs) in the lexical decision task are the topic of extensive research. While slower RTs are consistently found for longer pseudo-words, a finding coined the word length effect (WLE), some studies found no effects for words, and yet others reported faster RTs for longer words. Moreover, the WLE depends on the orthographic transparency of a language, with larger effects in more transparent orthographies. Here we investigate processes underlying the WLE in lexical decision in German-English bilinguals using a diffusion model (DM) analysis, which we compared to a linear regression approach. In the DM analysis, RT-accuracy distributions are characterized using parameters that reflect latent sub-processes, in particular evidence accumulation and decision-independent perceptual encoding, instead of typical parameters such as mean RT and accuracy. The regression approach showed a decrease in RTs with length for pseudo-words, but no length effect for words. However, DM analysis revealed that the null effect for words resulted from opposing effects of length on perceptual encoding and rate of evidence accumulation. Perceptual encoding times increased with length for words and pseudo-words, whereas the rate of evidence accumulation increased with length for real words but decreased for pseudo-words. A comparison between DM parameters in German and English suggested that orthographic transparency affects perceptual encoding, whereas effects of length on evidence accumulation are likely to reflect contextual information and the increase in available perceptual evidence with length. These opposing effects may account for the inconsistent findings on WLEs. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-01-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4700557/ /pubmed/26779075 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01958 Text en Copyright © 2016 Oganian, Froehlich, Schlickeiser, Hofmann, Heekeren and Jacobs. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Oganian, Yulia
Froehlich, Eva
Schlickeiser, Ulrike
Hofmann, Markus J.
Heekeren, Hauke R.
Jacobs, Arthur M.
Slower Perception Followed by Faster Lexical Decision in Longer Words: A Diffusion Model Analysis
title Slower Perception Followed by Faster Lexical Decision in Longer Words: A Diffusion Model Analysis
title_full Slower Perception Followed by Faster Lexical Decision in Longer Words: A Diffusion Model Analysis
title_fullStr Slower Perception Followed by Faster Lexical Decision in Longer Words: A Diffusion Model Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Slower Perception Followed by Faster Lexical Decision in Longer Words: A Diffusion Model Analysis
title_short Slower Perception Followed by Faster Lexical Decision in Longer Words: A Diffusion Model Analysis
title_sort slower perception followed by faster lexical decision in longer words: a diffusion model analysis
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4700557/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26779075
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01958
work_keys_str_mv AT oganianyulia slowerperceptionfollowedbyfasterlexicaldecisioninlongerwordsadiffusionmodelanalysis
AT froehlicheva slowerperceptionfollowedbyfasterlexicaldecisioninlongerwordsadiffusionmodelanalysis
AT schlickeiserulrike slowerperceptionfollowedbyfasterlexicaldecisioninlongerwordsadiffusionmodelanalysis
AT hofmannmarkusj slowerperceptionfollowedbyfasterlexicaldecisioninlongerwordsadiffusionmodelanalysis
AT heekerenhauker slowerperceptionfollowedbyfasterlexicaldecisioninlongerwordsadiffusionmodelanalysis
AT jacobsarthurm slowerperceptionfollowedbyfasterlexicaldecisioninlongerwordsadiffusionmodelanalysis