Syllable frequency effects in French visual word recognition: An ERP study

This study examined event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with differences in the frequency of the initial syllable of target words whose syllabic structure provided either a match or mismatch with the /CV/ and /CVC/ syllables under analysis. Results showed ERP effects that were consistent with syllabic activation between 300 and 600 ms, with high frequency syllables producing more positive potentials than those of low frequency. The syllabic locus of these effects was verified by their presence only in the matched syllabic condition, showing that frequency effects respected known syllable boundaries. Syllable frequency effects were also noted in an earlier time window, between 150 and 300 ms. However, these effects were only seen when manipulating /CVC/ frequency, not /CV/, and were common to both the matched and unmatched conditions. These results suggest that phoneme representations are directly activated following presentation of a printed word, and syllable representations are only activated following phoneme activation.