Inhibitory control and dissociation for Chinese real words and pseudowords in the orthographic neighborhood size effect

Inhibitory control ability may affect the orthographic neighborhood size (ONS) effect by inhibiting the semantic activation of neighbors. However, few studies have explored whether and how inhibitory control plays a role in the ONS effect on recognition of Chinese words. This study screened individuals with high and low inhibitory control abilities, and manipulated the ONS of Chinese words. Event-related potentials were used to explore the differences in ONS effects between individuals with high and low inhibitory control abilities, as well as the dissociation of ONS effects for Chinese real words and pseudowords recognition in lexical decision task. Both the behavioral and ERP results showed that ONS effect would be stronger in individuals with low inhibitory control ability. Meanwhile, we found a significant facilitative ONS effect on real words recognition and inhibitory effect on pseudowords recognition. In conclusion, inhibitory control is involved in ONS effect and the ONS effect has a dissociation when recognizing Chinese real words and pseudowords.