LinguaPix database: A megastudy of picture-naming norms

The major aim of the present megastudy of picture-naming norms was to address the shortcomings of the available picture data sets used in psychological and linguistic research by creating a new database of normed colour images that researchers from around the world can rely upon in their investigations. In order to do this, we employed a new form of normative study, namely a megastudy, whereby 1620 colour photographs of items spanning across 42 semantic categories were named and rated by a group of German speakers. This was done to establish the following linguistic norms: speech onset times (SOT), name agreement, accuracy, familiarity, visual complexity, valence, and arousal. The data, including over 64,000 audio files, were used to create the LinguaPix database of pictures, audio recordings, and linguistic norms, which to our knowledge, is the largest available research tool of its kind (http://linguapix.uni-mannheim.de). In this paper, we present the tool and the analysis of the major variables.

Automated summary

This study aimed to address the limitations of existing picture data sets in psychological and linguistic research by creating a new database of normed color images through a megastudy approach. Linguistic norms such as speech onset times, name agreement, accuracy, familiarity, visual complexity, valence, and arousal were established using 1620 color photographs named and rated by German speakers. The data were used to create the LinguaPix database, the largest available research tool of its kind.