Word recognition during reading: The interaction between lexical repetition and frequency

Memory studies utilizing long-term repetition priming have generally demonstrated that priming is greater for low-frequency than for high-frequency words and that this effect persists if words intervene between the prime and the target. In contrast, word-recognition studies utilizing masked short-term repetition priming have typically shown that the magnitude of repetition priming does not differ as a function of word frequency and does not persist across intervening words. We conducted an eyetracking-while-reading experiment to determine which of these patterns more closely resembles the relationship between frequency and repetition during the natural reading of a text. Frequency was manipulated using proper names that were either high-frequency (e.g., Stephen) or low-frequency (e.g., Dominic). The critical name was later repeated in the sentence, or a new name was introduced. First-pass reading times and skipping rates on the critical name revealed robust repetition-by-frequency interactions, such that the magnitude of the repetition-priming effect was greater for low-frequency than for high-frequency names. In contrast, measures of later processing showed effects of repetition that did not depend on lexical frequency. These results are interpreted within a framework that conceptualizes eye-movement control as being influenced in different ways by lexical- and discourse-level factors.     

Exploring the repetition paradox: The effects of learning context and massed repetition on memory

Although repetition is generally assumed to enhance the accessibility of memory for rehearsed material, recent research has suggested that prolonged repetition might actually be detrimental under some conditions. In the present work, we manipulated repetition duration and learning condition (intentional vs. incidental) in an effort to clarify the relationship between repetition and memory. Replicating previous findings, memory for repeated items declined with increased repetition under incidental-learning conditions. However, increased repetition had the opposite effect under intentional-learning conditions. Taken together, these results provide evidence for distinctive mechanisms of memory acquisition during repetition that vary depending on learning context.     

Frequency drives lexical access in reading but not in speaking: the frequency-lag hypothesis

To contrast mechanisms of lexical access in production versus comprehension we compared the effects of word frequency (high, low), context (none, low constraint, high constraint), and level of English proficiency (monolingual, Spanish-English bilingual, Dutch-English bilingual) on picture naming, lexical decision, and eye fixation times. Semantic constraint effects were larger in production than in reading. Frequency effects were larger in production than in reading without constraining context but larger in reading than in production with constraining context. Bilingual disadvantages were modulated by frequency in production but not in eye fixation times, were not smaller in low-constraint contexts, and were reduced by high-constraint contexts only in production and only at the lowest level of English proficiency. These results challenge existing accounts of bilingual disadvantages and reveal fundamentally different processes during lexical access across modalities, entailing a primarily semantically driven search in production but a frequency-driven search in comprehension. The apparently more interactive process in production than comprehension could simply reflect a greater number of frequency-sensitive processing stages in production.     

The effects of "neighborhood size" in reading and lexical decision.

The effects of neighborhood size ("N")--the number of words differing from a target word by exactly 1 letter (i.e., "neighbors")--on word identification was assessed in 3 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, the frequency of the highest frequency neighbor was equated, and N had opposite effects in lexical decision and reading. In Experiment 1, a larger N facilitated lexical decision judgments, whereas in Experiment 2, a larger N had an inhibitory effect on reading sentences that contained the words of Experiment 1. Moreover, a significant inhibitory effect in Experiment 2 that was due to a larger N appeared on gaze duration on the target word, and there was no hint of facilitation on the measures of reading that tap the earliest processing of a word. In Experiment 3, the number of higher frequency neighbors was equated for the high-N and low-N words, and a larger N caused target words to be skipped significantly more and produced inhibitory effects later in reading, some of which were plausibly due to misidentification of the target word when skipped. Regression analyses indicated that, in reading, increasing the number of higher frequency neighbors had a clear inhibitory effect on word identification and that increasing the number of lower frequency neighbors may have a weak facilitative effect on word identification.     

The influence of context on lexical decision times for emotionally aversive words

Forty-eight undergraduates made lexical decisions about emotionally aversive and nonemotional words. Emotionally aversive target words were preceded either by an emotionally aversive prime word, a nonemotional but semantically related prime or a nonemotional and semantically unrelated prime. Nonemotional targets were preceded by nonemotional primes which were either semantically related to targets, unrelated, or neutral (strings of Xs). Primes were presented for 50 ms to one group of 16 participants, 500 ms to a second group and 1250 ms to a third group. Measurement of lexical decision time showed significant semantic primary effects for nonemotional targets, and these were not influenced by prime duration. Priming effects for emotionally aversive targets due both to emotional and nonemotional relatedness of primes and targets were also found and these effects were not influenced by prime duration. The results are considered to be consistent with Bower’s (1981) associative network theory of memory, and possible clinical implications for explaining spontaneous panic attacks and the incubation of anxiety are discussed.     

Accessing lexical memory: The transfer of word repetition effects across task and modality

Reading by literate adults is generally assumed to represent skill acquired years earlier. However, the present experiments show that aspects of that skill can be readily modified. In two experiments, pronunciation of visually presented common words speeded later recognition of those words. This facilitation of recognition occurred although subjects did not expect word repetition and the task was changed from pronunciation to recognition. In contrast, naming pictures did not facilitate later recognition of visually presented picture names. The occurrence of facilitation when the task was changed and the lack of facilitation when stimulus format was changed suggest that facilitation occurs in the processes of encoding and accessing memory, processes that may change little across tasks but may change substantially with stimulus format changes. This facilitation of recognition occurs automatically without mediation by subjects’ expectations. A third experiment indicates that this facilitation of recognition shows little relation to episodic memory.     

The role of context specificity in learning: the effects of training context on explosives detection in dogs

Various experiments revealed that if an animal learns a stimulus–response–reinforcer relationship in one context and is then tested in another context there is usually a lessening of stimulus control, and the same discriminative stimuli that reliably controlled the behavior in the first context will have less effect in the new context. This reduction in performance is known as the context shift effect. The effect of changing context on the probability of detecting explosives was investigated in seven highly trained explosives detection dogs (EDDs). In experiment 1 the dogs were trained alternately on path A, which always had five hidden explosives, and on a very similar path B, which never had any explosives. Within a few sessions the dogs showed a significant decrease in search behavior on path B, but not on path A. In experiment 2 the same dogs were trained only on path B with a target density of one explosive hidden every 4th day. The probability of the dogs now detecting the explosive was found to be significantly lower than in experiment 1. In experiment 3 the effect of the low target density as used in experiment 2 was investigated on a new but very similar path C. Both the detection probability for the one explosive every 4th day on the new path and the motivation to search were significantly higher than found in experiment 2. Finally, in experiment 4, an attempt was made to recondition the dogs to search on path B. Although trained for 12 daily sessions with one explosive hidden every session, the dogs failed to regain the normal levels of motivation they had shown on both new paths and on the paths that they knew usually contained explosives. The findings reveal that even a very intensively trained EDD will rapidly learn that a specific stretch of path does not contain explosives. The dog will then be less motivated to search and will miss newly placed targets. This learning is specific to the formerly always-clean path and is to some extent irreversible. However, the dog will search and detect normally on new paths even if they are very similar to the always-clean path. The data are discussed in terms of variables affecting renewal. The results suggest that following training designed to make a behavior context independent, any extinction training will not generalize beyond that specific context used during the extinction training. In addition, if the behavior is extinguished in a specific context, it will be very difficult to restore that behavior in that context. These conclusions should be considered by anyone attempting to extinguish well-established trans-context behaviors.This research reports portions of a doctoral dissertation submitted by Irit Gazit to Tel Aviv University.     

Components of activation: repetition and priming effects in lexical decision and recognition

Activation decay functions were examined in two different tasks: lexical decision and word recognition. Activation (amount of facilitation) was measured both for item repetition and for priming between newly learned associates. Results indicate that there are at least three different components of activation: a short-term component that decays with one or two intervening items and that appears to be common to priming and repetition; an intermediate component for repetition in recognition; and a long-term component for repetition.     

The effects of context and content on immediate processing in reading

Four experiments were conducted to examine the processes by which fluent readers comprehend prose. In each study the material was presented a few words at a time on an on-line visual display and the subject pressed a button to move on from one display to the next. The inter-reponse time was used as an index of local processing difficulty. The results of Experiment I indicated that readers pause considerably at the ends of clauses and sentences, and that they show no tendency to speed up across sentences. This pattern of results questions the role of prediction in reading. In Experiments II and III immediate processing was found to be unaffected by two types of syntactically-predictive clue and the effect of a third (semantic) clue was equivocal. Experiment IV replicated the results of Experiment I and showed, in addition, that pausing at the ends of clauses and sentences is a function of the difficulty of the content of the text. More detailed analyses showed that reading rate is modulated by the frequency of the words and by the number of characters in the display. Taken together the results suggest that reading rate is largely determined by the speed with which a reader can access the meanings of words and construct a representation of the text rather than by the speed with which they can formulate and test successive predictions about it.     

The interaction of strategy and context in children's oral reading performance

An experiment was designed to test the interactive reading theory prediction that children's reading strategies vary with the availability of higher-level information. Third- and fourthgrade children (aged 8 and 9 years, respectively) were assigned to one of three context conditions and one of three experimental instructions conditions. Results supported the hypothesis the children adopt different oral reading speed strategies, depending on the amount of contextual information available, in order to maximize reading accuracy and, where appropriate, ongoing comprehension. When reading meaningful materials, children adopt a fluent, top-down reading strategy that is relatively resistant to modification. Although a slower, bottom-up strategy is preferred in the reading of words in isolation, children are able to modify this strategy in accordance with experimental instructions. These results are consistent with an interactive theory of reading.I would like to thank Roger Wales and Jenni Langford for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

List context effects on masked phonological priming in the lexical decision task

A lexical decision experiment tested the effects of briefly presented masked primes that were homophones or pseudohomophones of target words. Different types of nonword foil (pseudohomophones, orthographically regular nonwords, orthographically irregular nonwords) were mixed with the word targets. Pseudohomophone priming effects were independent of nonword foil variations, whereas homophone priming effects varied from being facilitatory in the presence of orthographically regular nonwords, inhibitory in the presence of pseudohomophones, and null in the presence of irregular nonwords. This dissociation in the way nonword foil variations influence masked pseudohomophone and homophone priming effects in the lexical decision task is discussed within the framework of a bimodal extension of the multiple readout model of visual word recognition (Grainger & Jacobs, 1996).     

The influence of context on the implementation of adaptive emotion regulation strategies

Putatively adaptive emotion regulation strategies (e.g., acceptance, problem solving, reappraisal) show weaker associations with psychopathology than putatively maladaptive strategies (e.g., avoidance, self-criticism, hiding expression, suppression of experience, worry, rumination). This is puzzling, given the central role that adaptive strategies play in a wide range of psychotherapeutic approaches. We explored this asymmetry by examining the effects of context (i.e., emotion intensity, type of emotion, social vs. academic circumstances) on the implementation of adaptive and maladaptive strategies. We asked 111 participants to describe 8 emotion-eliciting situations and identify which strategies they used in order to regulate their affect. We found support for a contextual model of emotion regulation, in which adaptive strategies were implemented with more cross-situational variability than maladaptive strategies. In addition, the variability in implementation of two adaptive strategies (acceptance, problem solving) predicted lower levels of psychopathology, suggesting that flexible implementation of such strategies in line with contextual demands is associated with better mental health. We discuss these findings by underscoring the importance of adopting a functional approach to the delineation of contextual factors that influence the implementation of emotion regulation strategies.     

Orthography and phonology in lexical decision: evidence from repetition effects at different lags

Full- and partial- (orthographic or phonemic) repetition effects for Hebrew voweled and unvoweled words and nonwords were examined at Lags 0 and 15 between the first and the second presentations. For voweled words, phonemic and orthographic partial-repetition effects were equivalent at Lag 0, each about half the size of the full-repetition effect. At Lag 15, the full-repetition effect was reduced to the size of phonemic repetition, which was as big as it was at Lag 0. In contrast, the orthographic repetition effect disappeared. For unvoweled words, the phonemic repetition effect was significant only at Lag 0, whereas the full-repetition effect was significant at both lags. Lexical decisions for both voweled and unvoweled nonwords were facilitated only by full repetition at Lag 0. It was concluded that addition of vowel marks attracted the subjects' attention and, therefore, lexical decisions for voweled stimuli were mediated by phonemic analysis.     

Joint effects of semantic priming and repetition in a lexical decision task: Implications for a model of lexical access

An experiment is reported which showed that in a lexical decision task semantic priming by a related preceding word and repetition of target words produce additive effects on decision latency. Previous models of lexical access and modifications of them are discussed, and it is argued that some such models predict an interaction of priming and repetition, while others are insufficiently precise to make a prediction. It is suggested that the generality of effects across tasks requiring lexical access must be established and the components of complex effects must be separated before an adequate model can be devised to account for the data.     

Phonological coding in reading of deaf children: Pseudohomophone effects in lexical decision

The purpose of this study was to find new evidence for phonological coding in written word recognition among deaf Dutch children. A lexical decision task was presented to 48 severely and profoundly deaf children aged from 6 years 8 months to 13 years 5 months, and a control group of Grade 1 hearing children matched on written word recognition. Sixteen pseudohomophones were introduced, closely matched on orthographic similarity with 16 control pseudo-words. Both hearing children and deaf children made significantly more mistakes on pseudohomophones than on control pseudo-words. Although pseudohomophony effects were smaller for deaf than for hearing participants, the findings were taken as evidence that deaf children also used phonological coding during written word recognition.     

Goal specificity effects on hypothesis testing in problem solving

Previous research has found that having a nonspecific goal (NSG) leads to better problem solving and transfer than having a specific goal (SG). To distinguish between the various explanations of this effect requires direct evidence showing how a NSG affects a participant's behaviour. Therefore we collected verbal protocols from participants learning to control a linear system consisting of 3 outputs by manipulating 3 inputs. This system was simpler than the one we had used previously, so in Exp. 1 we generalized our earlier goal specificity findings to this system. In Exp. 2 protocol analysis confirmed our prediction (based on dual-space theories of problem solving) that NSG participants focused on hypothesis testing whereas SG participants focused on the goal. However, this difference only emerged over time. We also replicated the goal specificity effect on performance and showed that giving participants a hypothesis to test improved performance.     

The role of lexical expertise in reading homophones

In Experiment 1, university students classified on lexical expertise on the basis of spelling plus nonword pronunciation accuracy made lexical decisions to homophones and control words. Homophones were accepted as words more slowly than control words, but lexical experts showed a smaller homophone cost than the less skilled group. In Experiment 2, similarly classified groups showed a large difference in their ability to detect homophones, with the low-expertise group showing a yes bias to high-frequency words, and having difficulty detecting homophones when mate-frequency was low. The results suggest superior use of orthography in the lexical experts and more reliance on semantic information in nonexperts, and support the importance of facility with orthography–phonology mappings in lexical expertise.     

The generation effect: Further tests of the lexical activation hypothesis

Three experiments compared recognition memory for word versus nonword responses when they had been either read or generated using a rhyme rule and either a word or nonword stimulus. That is, either the wordshop or the nonwordthop was generated from either the wordchop or the nonwordphop. In Experiment 1, the lexicality of the stimulus and response terms was manipulated orthogonally between subjects; in Experiments 2 and 3, it was manipulated orthogonally within subjects. In Experiment 3, subjects also made a lexical (word-nonword) decision about each response term after it had been read or generated. In all three experiments, memory performance was better for generated than read responses. This generation effect occurred only if the response term was a word, regardless of whether the stimulus term was a word or a nonword. These results are discussed in terms of the roles that lexical memory and response unitization play in the generation effect.