Gordon et al. (1993)

Gordon et al. (1993) investigated how people's understanding of words influences their reaction times in language tasks. They found that when words are more familiar and easier to process, individuals respond faster. Their research highlighted that semantic knowledge—our understanding of meaning—is crucial in how quickly we recognize and respond to words. This study contributed to understanding the cognitive processes behind language comprehension, showing that the strength of mental connections between words and concepts affects processing speed. Essentially, the more familiar and meaningful a word is to a person, the quicker they can recognize and react to it.