title: Effects of reading proficiency on embedded stem priming in primary school children.
abstract: Prior evidence from masked morphological priming has revealed conflicting findings regarding the acquisition of morpho-orthographic segmentation mechanisms in developing readers. Here, we examined changes in masked morphological priming across grade within a large sample of French primary school children (n = 191, Grades 2-5) and how these effects are modulated by individual differences in reading proficiency, spelling proficiency, and morphological awareness. Target words were preceded by either (a) a suffixed word prime (e.g., tristesse-TRISTE), (b) a suffixed nonword prime (e.g., tristerie-TRISTE), (c) a non-suffixed nonword prime (e.g., tristald-TRISTE), or (d) an unrelated prime (e.g., direction-TRISTE) using very short prime durations (50 ms). Moreover, a frequency manipulation was included for suffixes and non-suffixes. The results revealed robust suffixed word priming across all children independent of grade and proficiency. On the other hand, priming in the suffixed and non-suffixed nonword conditions was modulated by reading proficiency, with high-proficiency children showing facilitation and low-proficiency children showing inhibition. The effects of suffix and non-suffix frequency were modulated by grade, with decreasing effects as grade increased. None of the observed priming effects were modulated by grade, spelling proficiency, or morphological awareness. The results suggest that reading proficiency is an important predictor for embedded stem activation mechanisms in primary school children, which we discuss in the context of recent theories of morphological processing.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Université and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 13331 Marseille Cedex 1, France. Electronic address: lisi.beyersmann@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beyersmann
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Université and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 13331 Marseille Cedex 1, France.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grainger
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire URECA (EA 1059), Université Lille Nord de France, 59653 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Séverine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Casalis
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Université and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 13331 Marseille Cedex 1, France.
authors.forename: Johannes C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ziegler
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D012574:Schools
keywords: Embedded stem priming; Lexical decision; Masked priming; Morphological processing; Reading development; Reading proficiency