STRUCTURE AND SEARCH OF THE INTERNAL LEXICON

The aim of the paper is to examine alternative views of how the internal lexicon is structured and searched. To do this we examine the effect of a key variable, word frequency, on lexical decision. A theoretical analysis is made of the implications of the standard explanation of word frequency effects in terms of a frequency-ordered, serially searched internal lexicon. We test these implications in an experiment in which word frequency and composition of the experimental lists are varied. List composition is varied by altering the word frequency ranges included in the list. The results show effects of list composition that rule out frequency-ordered, serially searched models. Alternative models are considered and one of these developed in detail. This model is based on the idea of two internal lists. One is a shorter, ready-access list consisting of high-frequency words. The other is the complete list. The subject chooses lists for search on the basis of his knowledge of the experimental lists being presented. © 1979 Academic Press, Inc.