Lexical Processing and Vocabulary Learning: Bridging Psycholinguistic and Computational Mechanisms across Contexts

Lexical processing lies at the heart of language comprehension, production, and development, encompassing the emergence of early vocabulary acquisition in children, the rapid and automatic lexical access of skilled adult speakers, and the dynamic restructuring of lexical representations during second language learning. Despite decades of extensive research, progress in this field has been constrained by a persistent disconnection between processing-level evidence and models of vocabulary learning and instruction. Much of the existing literature prioritizes outcome-based measures (e.g., accuracy, vocabulary size) rather than processing-level evidence that can directly inform how lexical representations are formed, accessed, updated, and taught. This gap limits theoretical integration across domains such as representation, learning, and pedagogy, and constrains the development of evidence-based instructional practices. As a result, key questions about learning mechanisms, representational change, and instructional effectiveness remain insufficiently connected at a theoretical level.Addressing these challenges requires converging insights from psycholinguistic approaches capturing temporal dynamics, cognitive constraints, and individual variability, and computational approaches that formalize mechanisms of learning, generalization, and prediction. Equally critical is evidence drawn from diverse populations (children, adults, and atypical or special populations), languages (especially languages other than English), and learning contexts (from naturalistic exposure to formal instructions). By identifying converging patterns across these dimensions, research can move beyond language- or task-specific findings toward more generalizable principles of lexical processing and vocabulary learning, thereby advancing a theoretically grounded and context-sensitive science of reading and word learning.This Research Topic aims to advance a mechanism-based understanding of lexical processing and vocabulary learning by addressing the gap between processing-level evidence and models of learning and instruction. We seek contributions that elucidate how lexical representations are accessed, organized, and dynamically updated in the cognitive and neural systems, and how these processing mechanisms support vocabulary learning and instruction across developmental stages and learning contexts. We particularly welcome studies combining behavioral measures, neurocognitive methods (e.g., EEG, MEG, fMRI), and computational modeling across populations and languages, with the goal of identifying converging processing-level principles that link lexical representation, acquisition, and instruction.Topics of interest include:• Cognitive and temporal dynamics of lexical processing, including the timing and interaction of orthographic, phonological, morphological, and semantic processing, as well as their roles in lexical access, competition, integration, and representation during comprehension and production• Neurolinguistic correlates of lexical processing, as revealed by EEG/ERP, MEG, fMRI, or other neurocognitive methods, including oscillatory and network-level accounts• Computational models of lexical representation, access, and learning, including connectionist approaches, corpus-based models, as well as large-scale language models that are explicitly evaluated against behavioral and neurocognitive data • Lexical processing across populations, including children, adults, individuals with atypical language processing profiles, and learner groups with distinct educational or sociolinguistic characteristics• Cross-linguistic and typological perspectives on lexical processing, with particular emphasis on languages other than English, and their implications for proposed universal mechanisms• The relationship between lexical processing mechanisms and vocabulary learning in first and additional languages• Lexical processing in different learning contexts, including naturalistic exposure and classroom-based instruction• Methodological and theoretical advances that bridge processing-level evidence with models of reading, word learning, and vocabulary instructionBy bringing together psycholinguistic, neurolinguistic, and computational perspectives across contexts, this Research Topic aims to identify converging processing-level principles that advance a mechanistic understanding of lexical processing and its role in language learning and instruction. Topic editors: Fei Gao, Xiaomei Qiao, Marcus Taft Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78077/lexical-processing-and-vocabulary-learning-bridging-psycholinguistic-and-computational-mechanisms-across-contexts