Length effect in naming and lexical decision: The multitrace memory model's account

Abstract

Through the analysis of length effects (2-to-4 syllables) in reading aloud and lexical decision according to the nature of the items (words or pseudo-words), the present study aimed at investigating the nature of the cognitive procedures specifically involved in polysyllabic pseudoword processing. The experimental findings revealed a length by lexicality interaction in reading but the absence of such interaction in lexical decision. Furthermore, the strong length effect found on pseudo-words in online naming vanished in delayed naming, so that it can not be interpreted as resulting from articulatory output generation. Similar effects were found through simulations conducted within the multitrace memory model of reading (Ans, Carbonnel & Valdois, 1998) suggesting that pseudo-word reading relies on an analytic procedure which does not apply in either word reading or lexical decision.