Lexical connectivity effects in immediate serial recall of words
In six experiments, we tested whether immediate serial recall is influenced by a word’s degree centrality, an index of lexical connectivity. Words of high degree centrality are associated with more words in free association norms than those of low degree centrality. Experiment 1 analyzed secondary d...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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American Psychological Association
2021
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| _version_ | 1797106549861122048 |
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| author | Mak, MHC Hsiao, Y Nation, K |
| author_facet | Mak, MHC Hsiao, Y Nation, K |
| author_sort | Mak, MHC |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | In six experiments, we tested whether immediate serial recall is influenced by a word’s degree centrality, an index of lexical connectivity. Words of high degree centrality are associated with more words in free association norms than those of low degree centrality. Experiment 1 analyzed secondary data to explore the effect of degree centrality in wordlists containing a mixture of high- and low-degree words. High-degree words were advantaged across all serial positions, independently of other variables including word frequency. Experiment 2 replicated this finding using an expanded stimulus set. Experiment 3 used pure lists with each list containing high- or low-degree words only (e.g., HHHHHH vs. LLLLLL). Once again, high-degree words were better recalled across all serial positions. In Experiment 4, each wordlist alternated between high and low-degree words (e.g., HLHLHL and LHLHLH). Recall of low-degree words was facilitated by the neighboring high-degree words, abolishing the overall high-degree advantage. Experiment 5 used a within-participant design and replicated the findings from Experiments 3 and 4 such that the high-degree advantage in pure lists disappeared in alternating lists. Experiment 6 compared high and low frequency words in pure lists while controlling for degree centrality between the item sets. A high-frequency advantage emerged, suggesting that the effects of frequency and degree centrality are separable. We conclude that degree centrality is a distinct psycholinguistic variable that affects serial recall as both (a) an item-level characteristic such that high (vs. low) degree words have greater accessibility in the lexicon and (b) an interitem property such that high-degree words facilitate the recall of neighboring words by enhancing the formation of associative links. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:02:35Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:0005c2a7-4c8e-447d-bd4d-a338861b65ff |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:02:35Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | American Psychological Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:0005c2a7-4c8e-447d-bd4d-a338861b65ff2022-04-12T08:59:21ZLexical connectivity effects in immediate serial recall of wordsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0005c2a7-4c8e-447d-bd4d-a338861b65ffEnglishSymplectic ElementsAmerican Psychological Association2021Mak, MHCHsiao, YNation, KIn six experiments, we tested whether immediate serial recall is influenced by a word’s degree centrality, an index of lexical connectivity. Words of high degree centrality are associated with more words in free association norms than those of low degree centrality. Experiment 1 analyzed secondary data to explore the effect of degree centrality in wordlists containing a mixture of high- and low-degree words. High-degree words were advantaged across all serial positions, independently of other variables including word frequency. Experiment 2 replicated this finding using an expanded stimulus set. Experiment 3 used pure lists with each list containing high- or low-degree words only (e.g., HHHHHH vs. LLLLLL). Once again, high-degree words were better recalled across all serial positions. In Experiment 4, each wordlist alternated between high and low-degree words (e.g., HLHLHL and LHLHLH). Recall of low-degree words was facilitated by the neighboring high-degree words, abolishing the overall high-degree advantage. Experiment 5 used a within-participant design and replicated the findings from Experiments 3 and 4 such that the high-degree advantage in pure lists disappeared in alternating lists. Experiment 6 compared high and low frequency words in pure lists while controlling for degree centrality between the item sets. A high-frequency advantage emerged, suggesting that the effects of frequency and degree centrality are separable. We conclude that degree centrality is a distinct psycholinguistic variable that affects serial recall as both (a) an item-level characteristic such that high (vs. low) degree words have greater accessibility in the lexicon and (b) an interitem property such that high-degree words facilitate the recall of neighboring words by enhancing the formation of associative links. |
| spellingShingle | Mak, MHC Hsiao, Y Nation, K Lexical connectivity effects in immediate serial recall of words |
| title | Lexical connectivity effects in immediate serial recall of words |
| title_full | Lexical connectivity effects in immediate serial recall of words |
| title_fullStr | Lexical connectivity effects in immediate serial recall of words |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lexical connectivity effects in immediate serial recall of words |
| title_short | Lexical connectivity effects in immediate serial recall of words |
| title_sort | lexical connectivity effects in immediate serial recall of words |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT makmhc lexicalconnectivityeffectsinimmediateserialrecallofwords AT hsiaoy lexicalconnectivityeffectsinimmediateserialrecallofwords AT nationk lexicalconnectivityeffectsinimmediateserialrecallofwords |