From: Gert Storms (gert.storms psy.kuleuven.be)
Subject: word meanings
A couple of years ago, some researchers in Flanders, Belgium, started with a large scale study of semantic memory in humans. The goal of this study is to find out how the meaning of words is stored in memory. We gathered data through the internet using a task that takes just over five minutes. By spreading a call through email and social networks like Facebook, we were able to reach over 80,000 participants in Flanders and in the Netherlands.
Lately, several American and British university professors expressed interest in gathering a similar dataset for the English language. We would like to ask you whether it’s possible to put a call on your website to recruit participants for this study. The task is as simple as this: users are presented with 15 common words of the English language and are asked to write down the first words to come to mind after reading the cue words. The task is not long and most people enjoy doing it. It is important that we reach large numbers of participants in order to make the study representative for the whole English-speaking population, that is, from different nationalities. We try to reach as many people as possible by sending similar email to students, societies related to language, etc. The success of the enterprise depends on the willingness of societies like yours to spread the call.
The task is fully automatic and can be started by clicking here.
