The effect of age, education, and vocabulary size on the speed of word recognition across the lifespan

Abstract

Age and language experience both shape the speed of visual word recognition for children and adults. There is a considerable debate in the literature regarding whether these effects are primarily facilitating or impeding and whether the influences of age and language experience can be distinct and delineated. In order to address these questions, we collected data from Hungarian participants, analyzing data from 80 children (ages 9–17) and 387 adults (ages 18–90), on 250 words in an online visual lexical decision task. We used a pre-calibrated word list, based on prior familiarity ratings, to assess the participants’ vocabulary size and compared the effects of vocabulary size, age, and years spent in education on response speed in correct lexical decision trials over real words (as opposed to filler non-words). We found that vocabulary size and education facilitate, while age impedes word recognition speed in the task, and that vocabulary size effects are mediated by both age and education. These age-related trends were observed across a broad age range, although conclusions regarding the oldest participants (70+) must remain tentative due to their limited representation in our sample.