On the interpretation of word frequency as a variable affecting speed of recognition.
- 1 January 1954
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Journal of Experimental Psychology
- Vol. 48 (2) , 106-112
- https://doi.org/10.1037/h0059478
Abstract
An interpretation of the inverse relationship between the duration threshold of a word and its frequency of occurrence is outlined. According to this interpretation, the frequency of a word in the Thorndike-Lorge tables serves as an estimate of the frequency with which college students would have used that word at the time the duration thresholds were measured if the measurements had not been made. The validity of this estimate is tested by three experiments based on a rank-correlation procedure. Additional experiments provide a check on the method. The results indicate a validity of about .75 for Ss used in the principal experiment on duration threshold. Some reasons for preferring the proposed interpretation to others that have been suggested are briefly mentioned.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Physiological need, word frequency, and visual duration thresholds.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1953