In one study, researchers asked participants to memorize strings of nonsense words. Some strings were short, such as rix and jag. The short strings were not made up of function morphemes. Other strings were longer, but were constructed in such a way so as to include function morphemes such as ing, ly, and est (e.g., rixing, jagly). What were the results of this study?
A) The longer strings with the function morphemes were easier to memorize.
B) The shorter strings without the function morphemes were easier to memorize.
C) Both strings were equally difficult to memorize, but when asked, the participants said they drew meaning from the strings that included function morphemes.
D) Both strings were equally difficult to memorize, but when asked, the participants said they were confused by the addition of function morphemes to nonsensical words.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The longer strings with function morphemes were easier to memorize because the presence of familiar morphological elements (like ing, ly, and est) likely provided cues that helped in the memorization process, despite the words being nonsensical.

In One Study, Researchers Asked Participants to Memorize Strings of Nonsense