On the locus of morphological effects in spoken-word recognition: before or after lexical identification?

The temporal locus of morphological decomposition in spoken-word recognition was explored in three experiments in which French participants detected the initial CV (LA) or CVC (LAV) in matched monomorphemic pseudosuffixed (lavande) and polymorphemic-suffixed (lavage) carrier words. The proportion of foil trials was increased across experiments (0, 50, or 100%) to delay the moment when participants responded. For the experiment without foils and with the fastest reaction times, a similar pattern of results was obtained for the two types of carrier words. In contrast, an interaction between target type and morphological status of the carrier was obtained when the proportion of foils was higher and the detection latencies were slower. These results point to a late processing locus of morphological decomposition.