title: The suffix priming effect: Further evidence for an early morpho-orthographic segmentation process independent of its semantic content.
abstract: This work presents the results of a masked lexical decision experiment in which we explore the morphological parsing of Spanish suffixed or pseudosuffixed words through the suffix priming effect. Priming the bases or pseudobases with their suffixed or pseudosuffixed forms is the standard process in experiments aimed at understanding the processes underlying morphological parsing in visual word recognition with masked priming lexical decision (e.g., darkness-DARK; corner-CORN). We, however, compare the effect of suffix priming on the lexical decision of suffixed (ero-JORNALERO) and pseudosuffixed words (ero-CORDERO), as well as the effect of orthographic priming on nonsuffixed words (eba-PRUEBA). The results show that in the case of suffixed and pseudosuffixed words, related primes (ero-JORNALERO; ero-CORDERO) significantly accelerated response latencies in comparison to unrelated primes (ista-JORNALERO; ura-CORDERO), while for simple words there was no facilitation from the orthographically related prime in comparison to the unrelated prime (eba-PRUEBA; afo-PRUEBA). These results are consistent with the so-called morpho-orthographic segmentation process in the course of visual word recognition, which might also be independent of orthographic and purely semantic factors. Our results also support the view that morphological parsing takes place regardless of whether a stem is present in a word. These results complement findings from studies dealing with CORNER- and BROTHEL-like stimuli.
authors: a Department of Psychology , University of Castilla la Mancha , Talavera de la Reina , Spain.
authors: Miguel
authors: M
authors: Lázaro
authors: b Department of Basic Psychology II , Complutense University of Madrid , Madrid , Spain.
authors: Víctor
authors: V
authors: Illera
authors: b Department of Basic Psychology II , Complutense University of Madrid , Madrid , Spain.
authors: Javier
authors: J
authors: Sainz
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012660:Semantics; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities; D014825:Vocabulary
keywords: Masked priming; Morphological processing; Pseudosuffixed words; Semantics; Suffix priming; Suffixed words