Masked morphological priming in German-speaking adults and children: Evidence from response time distributions.

In this study, we looked at masked morphological priming effects in German children and adults beyond mean response times by taking into account response time distributions. We conducted an experiment comparing suffixed word primes (kleidchen-KLEID), suffixed nonword primes (kleidtum-KLEID), nonsuffixed nonword primes (kleidekt-KLEID), and unrelated controls (träumerei-KLEID). The pattern of priming in adults showed facilitation from suffixed words, suffixed nonwords, and nonsuffixed nonwords relative to unrelated controls, and from both suffixed conditions relative to nonsuffixed nonwords, thus providing evidence for morpho-orthographic and embedded stem priming. Children also showed facilitation from real suffixed words, suffixed nonwords, and nonsuffixed nonwords compared to unrelated words, but no difference between the suffixed and nonsuffixed conditions, thus suggesting that German elementary school children do not make use of morpho-orthographic segmentation. Interestingly, for all priming effects, a shift of the response time distribution was observed. Consequences for theories of morphological processing are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)

Accession Number: 2016-40480-001. PMID: 27445899 Partial author list: First Author & Affiliation: Hasenäcker, Jana; MPRG Reading Education and Development, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany. Other Publishers: Frontiers Research Foundation. Release Date: 20170227. Publication Type: Journal (0100), Peer Reviewed Journal (0110). Format Covered: Electronic. Document Type: Journal Article. Language: English. Major Descriptor: Age Differences; Morphology (Language); Priming; Reaction Time; Vocabulary. Classification: Cognitive & Perceptual Development (2820). Population: Human (10); Male (30); Female (40). Location: Germany. Age Group: Childhood (birth-12 yrs) (100); School Age (6-12 yrs) (180); Adulthood (18 yrs & older) (300); Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs) (320). Methodology: Empirical Study; Quantitative Study. ArtID: 929. Issue Publication Date: Jun 21, 2016. Publication History: First Posted Date: Jun 21, 2016; Accepted Date: Jun 6, 2016; First Submitted Date: Feb 18, 2016. Copyright Statement: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Hasenäcker, Beyersmann and Schroeder. 2016.