Lexical Attribute Effects on Spelling Latency and Duration of Hiragana Words in Normal Japanese Adults

Abstract

The lexical attributes of words include frequency of occurrence and familiarity. It has been reported that these attributes influence reading and spelling fluency. In this study, usage frequency of words, that is, how frequently words are used in handwriting and typing, was added to the lexical attributes. The purpose of this study was to investigate lexical attribute effects on spelling latency and duration of Hiragana words in normal Japanese adults. Spelling-to-dictation tasks of 226 Hiragana words were conducted in 30 Japanese adults, and word attribute effects on spelling latency and duration were analyzed. Results showed that familiarity significantly affected spelling latency and usage frequency significantly affected spelling duration. These results indicate that lexical processing is not completed before spelling movement is initiated. This suggests that it is better to use not only frequency of occurrence but also familiarity and usage frequency for investigating lexical attribute effects on spelling fluency.