No word

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The articles non-word and pseudo- word overlap thematically. Help me to better differentiate or merge the articles (→  instructions ) . To do this, take part in the relevant redundancy discussion . Please remove this module only after the redundancy has been completely processed and do not forget to include the relevant entry on the redundancy discussion page{{ Done | 1 = ~~~~}}to mark. Herr-Schlauschlau 1:47 p.m. , Aug. 18, 2011 (CEST)


In linguistics, a non-word is a grapheme or phoneme sequence that does not form a word in the language under consideration.

The grapheme sequence BAUM is a German word, but the sequence LGNF does not. Pronounceable nonwords, d. H. those that follow the phonotactic or orthographic rules of the language under consideration are called pseudo-words . BAUF is an example of a pseudo word in German; you can pronounce it, but there is no such lexeme in German . Orthographic pseudo-words that sound like real existing words when pronounced (e.g., brane , which when pronounced like brain sounds) are called pseudohomophones .

Nonwords and pseudo-words are particularly relevant in psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic research related to reading . In lexical decision-making tasks one can react more quickly to words than to non-words, since an entry in the mental lexicon can only be found for real words (lexicality effect / word superiority effect ). However, the reaction to pseudo-words is faster than that to pure non-words. Letters are also recognized more quickly when they appear in pseudo-words than when they appear in non-words.

Various studies have shown that the cognitive processing of words and pseudo or non-words proceeds differently. Lutzenberger et al. found differences in the response to visually presented real words and pseudo-words in an EEG study, suggesting that words - but not pseudo-words - induce activation in brain regions of the left hemisphere . In various fMRI studies, different brain regions were activated when reading words or pseudo-words. Both pseudo-words and infrequently occurring words demand certain brain regions more than frequently occurring words, which can be processed more automatically. Above all, pseudo-words require regions that are required to access the mental lexicon more than real words. However, they are processed just as automatically as real words; you can z. B. do not ignore when they are presented visually (see Stroop effect ).

It has also been found that good phonological memory (in the form of the ability to repeat pseudo-words) helps to better learn vocabulary of a second language .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Harley, TA (2008). The Psychology of Language: From Data to Theory. Psychology Press, Hove / New York, 3rd edition.
  2. Coltheart, M., Davelaar, E., Jonasson, JT and Besner, D. (1977). Access to the internal lexicon. In S. Dornic (Ed.), Attention and performance VI , pp. 535-555. London: Academic Press.
  3. Baron, J. and Thurston, I. (1973). An analysis of the word-superiority effect. Cognitive Psychology , 4 (2): 207-228.
  4. Lutzenberger, W., Pulvermüller, F., and Birbaumer, N. (1994). Words and pseudowords elicit distinct patterns of 30-Hz EEG responses in humans. Neuroscience Letters , 176 (1): 115-118.
  5. Simos, PG, Breier, JI, Fletcher, JM, Foorman, BR, Castillo, EM, and Papanicolaou, AC (2002). Brain Mechanisms for Reading Words and Pseudowords: an Integrated Approach. Cerebral Cortex , 12 (3): 297-305.
  6. ^ Woollams, AM, Silani, G., Okada, K., Patterson, K., and Price, CJ (2011). Word or Word-like? Dissociating Orthographic Typicality from Lexicality in the Left Occipito-temporal Cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience , 23 (4): 992-1002.
  7. Fiebach, C. J., Friederici, A. D., Müller, K., and von Cramon, D. Y. (2002). fMRI Evidence for Dual Routes to the Mental Lexicon in Visual Word Recognition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience , 14 (1): 11-23. (PDF file; 706 kB)
  8. Mechelli, A., Gorno-Tempini, ML, and Price, CJ (2003). Neuroimaging Studies of Word and Pseudoword Reading: Consistencies, Inconsistencies, and Limitations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience , 15 (2): 260-271.
  9. M. Vigneau, G. Jobard, B. Mazoyer and N. Tzourio-Mazoyer (2005). Word and non-word reading: What role for the Visual Word Form Area? NeuroImage , 27 (3): 694-705.
  10. ^ Price, CJ, Wise, RJS, and Frackowiak, RSJ (1996). Demonstrating the Implicit Processing of Visually Presented Words and Pseudowords. Cerebral Cortex , 6: 62-70. (PDF file; 3.8 MB)
  11. ^ Service, E. and Kohonen, V. (1995). Is the relation between phonological memory and foreign language learning accounted for by vocabulary acquisition ?. Applied Psycholinguistics , 16 (2): 155-172.