De Deyne Simon, Storms Gert
Research Group of Higher Cognition and Individual Differences, Psychology Department, Tiensestraat 102, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2007 Mar;124(3):274-95. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2006.03.007. Epub 2006 Jun 14.
An ongoing discussion about the role of age of acquisition (AoA) in word processing concerns the confound with word frequency. This study removed possible frequency confounds by comparing AoA and word familiarity differences in young (18-23 years) and older (52-56 years) adults. A first study investigated the differences in AoA and word familiarity ratings. The norms of AoA and familiarity were significantly different for young and older adults whereas these were previously considered equivalent [Morrison, C. M., Hirsh, K. W., Chappell, T., & Ellis, A. W. (2002). Age and age of acquisition: An evaluation of the cumulative frequency hypothesis. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 14, 435-459]. In the second study, AoA and familiarity effects were significantly different for the older and young adults in a lexical decision task. The third study replicated these findings in a semantic artifact/naturally occurring categorization experiment, thus providing further evidence for AoA-effects when word processing requires semantic mediation. Results from both studies were in line with the hypothesis that AoA effects on word processing cannot be accounted for by word frequency or other possible confounds.
关于习得年龄（AoA）在词汇加工中作用的持续讨论涉及到与词频的混淆。本研究通过比较年轻人（18 - 23岁）和老年人（52 - 56岁）的习得年龄和词汇熟悉度差异，消除了可能的频率混淆。第一项研究调查了习得年龄和词汇熟悉度评级的差异。年轻人和老年人在习得年龄和熟悉度的规范上存在显著差异，而这些差异此前被认为是等同的[莫里森，C.M.，赫什，K.W.，查佩尔，T.，& 埃利斯，A.W.（2002年）。年龄与习得年龄：对累积频率假说的评估。《欧洲认知心理学杂志》，14，435 - 459]。在第二项研究中，在词汇判断任务中，老年人和年轻人的习得年龄和熟悉度效应存在显著差异。第三项研究在语义人工制品/自然发生的分类实验中重复了这些发现，从而为在词汇加工需要语义中介时的习得年龄效应提供了进一步的证据。两项研究的结果均符合以下假设：习得年龄对词汇加工的影响不能用词频或其他可能的混淆因素来解释。
