Effects of syllable frequency and syllable neighborhood frequency in visual word recognition.

Three experiments were carried out to analyze the role of syllable frequency in lexical decision and naming. The results show inhibitory effects of syllable frequency in the lexical decision task for both high- and low-frequency words. In contrast, the effect of syllable frequency is facilitatory in the naming task. A post hoc analysis revealed the important role played by the number of higher frequency syllabic neighbors (words that share a syllable with the target) in the lexical decision task and the role of the frequency of the first syllable in the naming task. Experiment 3 manipulated the neighborhood syllable frequency directly by comparing words with few higher frequency syllabic neighbors and words with many higher frequency syllabic neighbors in the lexical decision task; an inhibitory neighborhood syllable frequency effect was found. The results are interpreted in terms of current models of visual word recognition and word naming.