Changes in the efficiency of lexical access across the lifespan are modulated by vocabulary size

This study explores the influence of age and vocabulary size on lexical access speed in a lexical decision task, focusing on participants aged 9 to 90 years. It introduces a novel measure for assessing lexical strength, revealing a complex interaction where vocabulary size affects response times differently across ages, with younger (9-14) and older (65+) participants responding slower than others, though larger vocabularies lessen the age effect. The findings challenge the belief that larger vocabularies always slow lexical access and suggest further research into age-related processing speed and working memory impacts on lexical decision-making.