Exploring the relations between word frequency, language exposure, and bilingualism in a computational model of reading

Monaghan, Padraic John and Chang, Ya-Ning and Welbourne, Stephen and Brysbaert, Marc (2017) Exploring the relations between word frequency, language exposure, and bilingualism in a computational model of reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 93. pp. 1-21. ISSN 0749-596X

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Abstract

Individuals show differences in the extent to which psycholinguistic variables predict their responses for lexical processing tasks. A key variable accounting for much variance in lexical processing is frequency, but the size of the frequency effect has been demonstrated to reduce as a consequence of the individual’s vocabulary size. Using a connectionist computational implementation of the triangle model on a large set of English words, where orthographic, phonological, and semantic representations interact during processing, we show that the model demonstrates a reduced frequency effect as a consequence of amount of exposure to the language, a variable that was also a cause of greater vocabulary size in the model. The model was also trained to learn a second language, Dutch, and replicated behavioural observations that increased proficiency in a second language resulted in reduced frequency effects for that language but increased frequency effects in the first language. The model provides a first step to demonstrating causal relations between psycholinguistic variables in a model of individual differences in lexical processing, and the effect of bilingualism on interacting variables within the language processing system.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Memory and Language
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1700/1702
Subjects:
?? readingfrequency effectscomputational modellingindividual differencesbilingualismlifespan developmentartificial intelligenceneuropsychology and physiological psychologylinguistics and languagelanguage and linguisticsexperimental and cognitive psychology ??
ID Code:
81550
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
14 Sep 2016 07:56
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 16:21