Your professor has asked you to give a three-minute talk to a group of first-year psychology students. Your topic is "The Organization of the Mental Lexicon." Explain what you would include in your talk and what practical suggestions you would give students to make the most of their mental lexicons.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Student examples will vary. A sample answer follows. I would explain to students that everyone's brain has a mental lexicon made up of words and expressions they have heard, read, or invented. Most dictionaries are arranged in alphabetical order, but our lexicons seem to be organized in other ways--largely by frequency. In other words, the more often you hear, read, or say a word, the more likely you are to recognize and understand it the next time you encounter it. For this reason, I would advise students to make sure that they study key terms, names, formulae, and concepts frequently and repeatedly in order to do better on tests.
The other main point I would make in my talk is that when it comes to word recognition, context matters. Researchers have proved that word recognition is faster if the researcher has "primed" the research subject by showing a similar word beforehand. These primed words can have similarities in meaning, spelling, or pronunciation. As a result, I would suggest that students study key terms, names, formulae, and concepts in context rather than on their own. For instance, it makes more sense for students to learn the names and functions of the different parts of the brain rather than trying to learn some terms related to the brain and others related to different parts of the body.