Contextual diversity is a main determinant of word identification times in young readers

Recent research with college-aged skilled readers by Adelman and colleagues revealed that contextual diversity (i.e., the number of contexts in which a word appears) is a more critical determinant of visual word recognition than mere repeated exposure (i.e., word frequency) (Psychological Science, 2006, Vol. 17, pp. 814–823). Given that contextual diversity has been claimed to be a relevant factor to word acquisition in developing readers, the effects of contextual diversity should also be a main determinant of word identification times in developing readers. A lexical decision experiment was conducted to examine the effects of contextual diversity and word frequency in young readers (children in fourth grade). Results revealed a sizable effect of contextual diversity, but not of word frequency, thereby generalizing Adelman and colleagues’ data to a child population. These findings call for the implementation of dynamic developmental models of visual word recognition that go beyond a learning rule by mere exposure.

► The number of contexts that a word appears has been claimed to be a factor relevant to word acquisition.
► We examined the effects of contextual diversity and word frequency in lexical access with young readers.
► Contextual diversity, but not word-frequency, had an effect on word-identification times.
► Models of visual-word recognition should go beyond a learning rule by mere exposure.