The Effect of Word Relatedness on Individual Response Time: A Lexical Decision Experiment on Undergraduate Students

• Main Authors: Zahra Rizqi Putri Fatiha, -, Pramesti Pradna Paramita, -
• Format: Article NonPeerReviewed
• Language: English
• Published: Universitas Airlangga 2025
• Subjects: BF Psychology
• Online Access: https://repository.unair.ac.id/135581/1/Research%20Article_11201113047_Zahra%20Rizqi%20Putri%20Fatiha.pdf; https://repository.unair.ac.id/135581/; https://lib.unair.ac.id
• Institution: Universitas Airlangga

Information in long-term memory is organised through semantic connections, which aid in retrieving information. Past studies on lexical decision tasks show that word relatedness affects reaction times. The current research hypothesis builds on those prior findings, suggesting that pairs of real related words are identified faster than pairs of real unrelated words. A total of 274 undergraduate students participated in 48 trials administered through the PsyToolkit Program, comparing related and unrelated word pairs that were presented randomly. Participants were instructed to judge a pair of letter strings Results showed faster reaction time for related words (M = 731.26, SD =108.14) compared to unrelated words (M = 765.91, SD = 123.33) with a statistically significant difference in reaction time (W = 9331, Z = -6.98, p < .001). These findings support previous research and suggest practical applications in language diagnostics and education. Future studies should focus on selective sampling and additional variables.