Exploring The Effects Of Print Exposure On Lexical Processing Among Greek Adults

The term "print exposure" refers to the degree of investment a person dedicates in reading and literacy activities (Payne et al., 2012). Print exposure positively affects human cognition and language abilities (e.g., Ardila et al., 2010). For instance, voluminous-reading activities enhance memory performance (Hartley, 1986), the development of vocabulary acquisition (Elley, 1991) and language processing across life span (Payne et al., 2012). The aim of this work is twofold: (1) to replicate the positive relation between greater print exposure and the efficiency of orthographic and phonological word recognition processes in Greek, a morphologically rich language and (2) to develop print exposure measurements designed specifically for the Greek population. Participants are 97 Greek native speakers adults (age range: 18-80, M age= 35.7). Print exposure was assessed by the use of the Author Recognition Test (ART), Magazine Recognition Test (MRT) (Stanovich & Cunningham, 1992) and self-report assessing reading habits. Vocabulary performance was measured by the provision of a lexical decision online self-generated task. Results showed that, although greater scores were obtained for the MRT compared to ART both measurements were highly inter-correlated and allied with participants' self-reports, suggesting its' usability among Greek adults. Finally, the ART and MRT were found to be significant indicators of the word recognition processes, as derived by faster reaction times (RTs) on the Lexical Decision Task.