Lexical decision tasks measure how quickly people can identify whether a string of letters is a real word or not. A central finding of these experiments reveals that words recognized more quickly tend to be words encountered more frequently. For example, common words like “table” are typically recognized faster than less frequent words like “obfuscate.” This suggests a relationship between word frequency and mental lexicon access.
This discovery is significant because it provides evidence for how words are stored and retrieved in the mind. It supports models of mental lexicon organization based on frequency of use, implying that more frequent words are more readily accessible. Understanding this connection has implications for fields like psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology, and even natural language processing. Historically, these experiments have played a crucial role in shaping theories of language processing.
