Feature Analysis of Phonetically Balanced Monosyllabic Words Retrieved at the Subceptual Level

Abstract

Fifty-balanced monosyllabic words were presented subceptually in the absence/presence of noise to study the type of cues employed by the subjects to retrieve the words. The same words were also presented at normal threshold level to check whether similar cues operated under subthreshold and normal threshold conditions. The results indicated that at subceptual level, the subjects obtained partial cues on the basis of which they provided structurally related retrievals. Confusions between the stimulus words and retrieved words were found to occur due to sharing of certain common features like acoustic similarity, rhyme, and nasality, etc. Frequency of usage and correct retrieval were positively correlated. Further, the level of confidence placed in the retrievals was of "doubtful" or "guessing" nature. In general, word perception at subceptual level required consulting the internal lexicon and "filling in" the missing information.