The effect of semantic richness on word processing and recognition speed

Besede imajo različne leksikalne in semantične lastnosti, ki močno vplivajo na njihovo procesiranje. Za namen preučevanja vpliva teh lastnosti na procesiranje besed so bili v tujih jezikih oblikovani leksikoni z leksikalnimi in semantičnimi značilnostmi besed. V slovenskem jeziku tovrstnega leksikona še nimamo, kar onemogoča raziskovanje vpliva semantičnih lastnosti besed na njihovo procesiranje. Raziskava je bila izvedena z namenom pridobitve ocen semantičnih lastnosti besed in raziskovanjem njihovega vpliva na procesiranje besed. V okviru magistrskega dela so bile zbrane ocene semantičnih dimenzij za 296 samostalnikov. Besede so bile ocenjene s strani 124 slovensko govorečih udeležencev v spletnem vprašalniku. Udeleženci so besede ocenjevali na petih semantičnih dimenzijah, in sicer: konkretnost, predstavljivost, poznanost, valenca in vzburjenje. Ocene udeležencev so se izkazale kot visoko zanesljive na vseh petih ocenjevanih semantičnih dimenzijah, pri čemer so bile najvišje pri dimenziji valence in najnižje pri dimenziji vzburjenja. Semantične spremenljivke se niso izkazale kot pomembni napovednik reakcijskih časov na nalogi poimenovanja in nalogi leksikalne odločitve. Valenca se je negativno povezovala z reakcijskimi časi na obeh nalogah, kar nakazuje, da bolj pozitivne besede procesiramo hitreje. Dimenzija konkretnosti se je značilno negativno povezovala z emocionalnostjo in vzburjenjem, kar kaže, da so abstraktne besede v primerjavi s konkretnimi bolj emocionalne in vzburjajoče. Statistično značilne razlike v hitrosti procesiranja abstraktnih in konkretnih besed nismo zaznali. Prav tako ni bilo zaznanih pomembnih razlik v procesiranju negativnih in pozitivnih besed. Rezultati so nadalje pokazali pričakovan kvadratni odnos med valenco in vzburjenjem z najvišjim za pozitivne in negativne besede ter najnižjim vzburjenjem za nevtralne besede. V slovenskem jeziku norm za semantične značilnosti besed še ni, pričujoča raziskava pa pomembno doprinaša k področju raziskovanja vpliva semantične bogatosti pri procesiranju in prepoznavi slovenskih besed. Poleg doprinosa k empiričnemu raziskovanju, prinaša tudi spodbudo k praktični uporabi norm v priredbi tujih psihodiagnostičnih pripomočkov v slovenski jezik.Words have different lexical and semantic properties that strongly influence their processing. In foreign languages, lexicons with lexical and semantic features of words were created to study the influence of these features on word processing. In the Slovene language, we do not have such a lexicon yet, which makes it impossible to investigate the influence of the semantic properties of Slovene words on their processing. The research was carried out to obtain estimates of words\u27 semantic properties and investigate their effect on word processing. As part of the master\u27s thesis, evaluations of semantic dimensions were collected for 296 Slovene nouns. 124 Slovene-speaking participants evaluated the words in an online questionnaire. The participants rated the words according to five semantic dimensions: concreteness, imageability, familiarity, valence, and arousal. Participants\u27 ratings were highly reliable on all five semantic dimensions, being highest on the valence dimension and lowest on the arousal dimension. Semantic variables did not emerge as significant predictors of reaction times on the naming and lexical decision tasks. Valence was negatively associated with reaction time on both tasks, suggesting that positive words are processed faster. The dimension of concreteness was negatively associated with emotionality and arousal, showing that abstract words are more emotional and arousing than concrete words. We did not detect a statistically significant difference in the processing speed of abstract and concrete words. Also, no significant differences were detected in negative and positive word processing. The results show the expected quadratic relationship between valence and arousal, with arousal highest for positive and negative words and lowest for neutral words. There are no norms for semantic characteristics of words in the Slovene language. The present research contributes significantly to the research on the influence of semantic richness in the processing and recognition of Slovene words. It also provides an incentive for the practical use of norms in adapting foreign psychodiagnostics tools into the Slovene language