Aka Sandra, Mathey Stéphanie
Univ. Bordeaux, LabPsy, UR 4139, Bordeaux, France.
Behav Res Methods. 2024 Dec 10;57(1):8. doi: 10.3758/s13428-024-02520-2.
Imageability, an important word characteristic in the psycholinguistic literature, is typically assessed by asking participants to estimate the ease with which a word can evoke a mental image. Our aim was to explore inter-rater disagreement in normative imageability ratings. We examined the predictors of variability around average imageability ratings for young, middle-aged and older adults (Study 1) and assessed its impact on visual word recognition performance in young adults (Study 2). Analyses of French age-related imageability ratings (Ballot et al., Behavior Research Methods, 54, 196-215, 2022) revealed that inter-rater disagreement around the average imageability value was critically high for most words within the imageability norms, thus questioning the construct validity of the average rating for the most variable items. Variability in ratings changed between age groups (18-25, 26-40, 41-59, and over 60 years) and was associated with words that are longer, less frequent, learnt later in life and less emotional (Study 1). To examine the consequences of elevated standard deviations around the average imageability rating on visual word recognition, we entered this factor in a hierarchical regression alongside classic lexico-semantic predictors. The effect of word-imageability on young adults' lexical decision times (Ferrand et al., Behavior Research Methods, 50, 1285-1307, 2018) remained significant after accounting for inter-rater disagreement in imageability ratings, even when considering the least consensual words (Study 2). We conclude that imageability ratings reliably predict visual word recognition performance in young adults for large datasets, but might require caution for smaller ones. Given imageability rating differences across adulthood, further research investigating age-related differences in language processing is necessary.
可想象性是心理语言学文献中的一个重要词汇特征，通常通过要求参与者估计一个单词唤起心理图像的难易程度来进行评估。我们的目的是探讨在规范性可想象性评级中评分者之间的分歧。我们研究了年轻人、中年人和老年人平均可想象性评级周围变异性的预测因素（研究1），并评估了其对年轻人视觉单词识别表现的影响（研究2）。对法语年龄相关可想象性评级的分析（Ballot等人，《行为研究方法》，54卷，196 - 215页，2022年）表明，在可想象性规范内的大多数单词，围绕平均可想象性值的评分者间分歧非常高，因此质疑了最具变异性项目平均评级的结构效度。评级的变异性在不同年龄组（18 - 25岁、26 - 40岁、41 - 59岁和60岁以上）之间有所变化，并且与更长、频率更低、在生命后期习得且情感性更低的单词相关（研究1）。为了研究平均可想象性评级周围标准差升高对视觉单词识别的影响，我们将这个因素与经典的词汇语义预测因素一起纳入层次回归。在考虑了可想象性评级中的评分者间分歧后，即使考虑最缺乏共识的单词，单词可想象性对年轻人词汇判断时间的影响（Ferrand等人，《行为研究方法》，50卷，1285 - 1307页，2018年）仍然显著（研究2）。我们得出结论，对于大型数据集，可想象性评级能够可靠地预测年轻人的视觉单词识别表现，但对于较小的数据集可能需要谨慎。鉴于成年期不同阶段的可想象性评级差异，有必要进一步研究语言处理中与年龄相关的差异。
