The Time Course of Activation of Semantic and Orthographic Information in Morphological Decomposition by Korean Adults and Developing Readers
The Time Course of Activation of Semantic and Orthographic Information in Morphological Decomposition by Korean Adults and Developing Readers
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Date
2018-11
Authors
Lin, Candise Y.
Wang, Min
Ko, Yeong
Advisor
Citation
Lin CY, Wang M and Ko IY (2018) The Time Course of Activation of Semantic and Orthographic Information in Morphological Decomposition by Korean Adults and Developing Readers. Front. Commun. 3:51. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2018.00051
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Abstract
The current study examined the involvement of semantic and orthographic information
in the processing of derived words in Korean Hangul. Sixth grade children and
adults participated in four masked priming lexical decision experiments in which the
prime duration varied from 36, 48, 57, and 72ms (in Experiments, 1, 2, 3, and 4,
respectively). Morphological (M), semantic (S), and orthographic (O) relatedness between
prime-target pairs were manipulated. There were four types of Korean prime-target
pairs: (1) -M-S+O: , scandal-scan, (2) +M-S+O: , archer-arch,
(3) +M+S+O: , bravely-brave, and (4) -M+S-O: , accuse-blame.
There were several key findings: (1) adults showed significant priming effects at 57
and 72ms in +M+S+O and significant priming effects at 72ms in +M-S+O; (2)
less skilled readers showed significant facilitation at 36ms in +M+S+O; and (3) in
-M-S+O, both skilled and less skilled readers show significant inhibition across four
prime durations. The different time course of +M+S+O priming for adults and children
may be due to developing readers’ smaller lexicon and less competition for semantic
activation of the monosyllabic suffix (e.g., in ), which is a homograph in
Korean Hangul. The consistent orthographic inhibition for both age groups suggest
that orthographic information is activated early and continues to play an important role
throughout the course of Korean visual word recognition. The current study extends
previous research with readers of Roman alphabets to readers of an alpha-syllabary
orthography written in a non-linear spatial layout with more clear-cut syllable boundaries.
Taken together, it appears that the involvement of semantic and orthographic information
in the decomposition of morphologically complex word may vary depending on the
characteristics of the orthography.
Notes
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