title: Word recognition during reading: the interaction between lexical repetition and frequency.
abstract: Memory studies utilizing long-term repetition priming have generally demonstrated that priming is greater for low-frequency than for high-frequency words and that this effect persists if words intervene between the prime and the target. In contrast, word-recognition studies utilizing masked short-term repetition priming have typically shown that the magnitude of repetition priming does not differ as a function of word frequency and does not persist across intervening words. We conducted an eyetracking-while-reading experiment to determine which of these patterns more closely resembles the relationship between frequency and repetition during the natural reading of a text. Frequency was manipulated using proper names that were either high-frequency (e.g., Stephen) or low-frequency (e.g., Dominic). The critical name was later repeated in the sentence, or a new name was introduced. First-pass reading times and skipping rates on the critical name revealed robust repetition-by-frequency interactions, such that the magnitude of the repetition-priming effect was greater for low-frequency than for high-frequency names. In contrast, measures of later processing showed effects of repetition that did not depend on lexical frequency. These results are interpreted within a framework that conceptualizes eye-movement control as being influenced in different ways by lexical- and discourse-level factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, CB#3270, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3270, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Lowder
authors.forename: Wonil
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Gordon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics / Q000379:methods; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D060865:Repetition Priming / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult