Repetition leads to short-term reduction of word frequency and name agreement effects: Evidence from a Dutch two-session picture naming experiment

TL;DR

Repeating word names temporarily reduces the influence of word frequency and name agreement on how quickly people can name objects, but these effects return after a week.

Contribution

This study provides evidence that repetition temporarily reduces word frequency and name agreement effects in speech production.

Findings

Repetition eliminated the word frequency effect in the first session but it reappeared after a week.

The name agreement effect was reduced by repetition but still present in the first session and returned in the second session.

Short-term repetition affects lexical accessibility, but the effects are not long-lasting.

Abstract

Word frequency (WF) and name agreement (NA) affect a word’s accessibility during speech production. Speakers are faster to name pictures with high-frequency (e.g. dog) compared to low-frequency names (e.g. rhinoceros) and those that a group of speakers tend to agree on the name of (high NA; e.g. arm) than those that they do not (low NA; e.g. sofa, couch). Recent accounts of lexical access suggest that the structure of the mental lexicon is flexible and changes with exposure. Consistent with this view, repetition priming studies have shown that low-frequency and low NA items benefit from repetition more than high-frequency and high NA items. But there is little evidence that repetition has long-term effects on WF and NA. We tested this issue in a two-session (online) picture naming study. In Session 1, participants named pictures varying in WF and NA three times each, and so we could test the short-term effects of repetition on WF and NA. We tested long-term effects of repetition by having participants name the same old items 1 week later in Session 2, together with new items that they had not named previously. In Session 1 the WF effect was eliminated by repetition, while the NA effect was reduced but still present. Thus, previous naming affected both the WF and NA effects. However, both effects reappeared in Session 2. These findings suggest that previous naming can reduce the WF and NA effect, thus affecting how easy it is to produce a word, but these effects are relatively short-lived.

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