@article{jbp:/content/journals/10.1075/ttwia.75.06mos, author = "Mos, Maria", title = "Complexe Woorden In Het Mentale Lexicon Van Kinderen", journal= "Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen", year = "2006", volume = "75", number = "1", pages = "53-65", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1075/ttwia.75.06mos", url = "https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/ttwia.75.06mos", publisher = "John Benjamins", issn = "0169-7420", type = "Journal Article", abstract = "Do children's representations of complex words in their mental lexicon have an internal structure, with the stem as a separate unit? De Jong et al (2000) found that adults recognize words with a large Family Size, i.e. words occurring in many derivations and compounds, faster than equally frequent words with a small Family Size. This result is an indication that the occurrence of a stem in complex words facilitates the recognition of this stem. This article investigates whether the Family-Size-effect extends to children's reaction times as well. Using a lexical decision task, the effect was observed in 9-10 year old children (N=69) in Dutch. A large vocabulary and good reading ability shortened general reaction times, but had no influence on the difference between items with a small or large Family Size. Monolingual and bilingual children performed similarly on this task.", }