Top-Down Biases for Lexicality and Frequency in Both Monosyllabic and Disyllabic Stimuli: Evidence from Cantonese

Also known as the Ganong effect, a lexicality bias effect- i.e., the bias to interpret an ambiguous sound as the phoneme that yields a real word in its context - has been widely replicated. The search for a similar frequency bias effect, on the other hand, has yielded mixed results: In English, a bias has been observed such that listeners tend to interpret an ambiguous sound as the phoneme that yields a higher-frequency word, but this has failed to be replicated in Mandarin. One difference between these studies is the use of monosyllabic vs. disyllabic stimuli. To determine the factors that influence the presence of a bias effect, the present study tested for both frequency and lexicality bias effects using monosyllabic and disyllabic stimuli in Cantonese. Results show that the lexicality and frequency bias effects can be elicited in both monosyllabic and disyllabic stimuli, but the frequency effect is weaker.