Orthography and familiarity effects in word processing

Both orthographic regularity and visual familiarity have been implicated as contributors to the efficiency of processing visually presented words. Our studies sought to determine which of the internal codes representing words in the nervous system are facilitated by these two variables. To do this, sets of letter strings in which orthography and familiarity were factorially combined were used as the basis for physical, phonetic, semantic, and lexical judgments. The data indicated consistent effects of orthography on the activation of all codes. These effects were seen in same-different matching and in judgments of stimulus orientation, which are based on visual codes; in judgments of pronounceability based on phonetic codes; in judgments of meaningfulness based on semantic codes; and in lexical decisions, which are based on phonetic and semantic codes together. Familiarity, on the other hand, had a clear influence on the activation of semantic codes and to a lesser extent affected phonetic codes. Despite previous positive results found in matching letter strings, however, no influence of familiarity occurred in judgments based on visual codes once evidence for criterion shifting was eliminated. Our negative results included direct tests of facilitation in matching acronyms (e.g., FBI) and in matching both regular and irregular strings familiarized by specific training. It now appears that earlier findings of visual familiarity effects may be attributed to response biases resulting from the activation of higher level codes sensitive to familiarity, and to the use of small sets of training stimuli that allowed subjects to induce orthographic-like rules. The results obtained so far with our methods seem to reconcile an inconsistent literature by showing that speeded decisions based on visual codes are most strongly influenced by rule-governed processing mechanisms sensitive to orthographic structure, whereas decisions based on phonetic and semantic codes are affected about equally by rule-governed mechanisms and by stimulus-specific mechanisms sensitive to familiarity. This conclusion may lead to changes in notions of how effective various kinds of visual training are likely to be at different stages in the acquisition of reading skill.     

Visual attention shift to printed words during spoken word recognition in Chinese: The role of phonological information

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which phonological information mediates the visual attention shift to printed Chinese words in spoken word recognition by using an eye-movement technique with a printed-word paradigm. In this paradigm, participants are visually presented with four printed words on a computer screen, which include a target word, a phonological competitor, and two distractors. Participants are then required to select the target word using a computer mouse, and the eye movements are recorded. In Experiment 1, phonological information was manipulated at the full-phonological overlap; in Experiment 2, phonological information at the partial-phonological overlap was manipulated; and in Experiment 3, the phonological competitors were manipulated to share either fulloverlap or partial-overlap with targets directly. Results of the three experiments showed that the phonological competitor effects were observed at both the full-phonological overlap and partial-phonological overlap conditions. That is, phonological competitors attracted more fixations than distractors, which suggested that phonological information mediates the visual attention shift during spoken word recognition. More importantly, we found that the mediating role of phonological information varies as a function of the phonological similarity between target words and phonological competitors.     

Differential cognitive processing of Kanji and Kana words: do orthographic and semantic codes function in parallel in word matching task.

Relative engagements of the orthographic and semantic codes in Kanji and Hiragana word recognition were investigated. In Exp. 1, subjects judged whether the pairs of Kanji words (prime and target) presented sequentially were physically identical to each other in the word condition. In the sentence condition, subjects decided whether the target word was valid for the prime sentence presented in advance. The results showed that the response times to the target swords orthographically similar (to the prime) were significantly slower than to semantically related target words in the word condition and that this was also the case in the sentence condition. In Exp. 2, subjects judged whether the target word written in Hiragana was physically identical to the prime word in the word condition. In the sentence condition, subjects decided if the target word was valid for the previously presented prime sentence. Analysis indicated that response times to orthographically similar words were slower than to semantically related words in the word condition but not in the sentence condition wherein the response times to the semantically and orthographically similar words were largely the same. Based on these results, differential contributions of orthographic and semantic codes in cognitive processing of Japanese Kanji and Hiragana words was discussed.     

Semantic access in number processing investigated with Japanese Kanji and Kana numerals

In number processing, semantic representations are efficiently activated. These representations frequently affect task performance, as demonstrated by semantic effects such as the distance effect (longer reaction times to closer numerical pairs in comparison tasks). The objective of this study was to investigate whether efficient semantic access is a distinctive feature of number processing using the Japanese language. Japanese was chosen to investigate possible effects of ideographic processing and word frequency: Kanji numerals in Japanese are ideograms and are used frequently, while Kana numerals are phonograms and are used infrequently. The results confirmed a distance effect in the numerical and physical matching tasks with both Arabic and Kanji numerals regardless of notation or task (Experiment 1). However, the effect was not observed with the Kana pairs (Experiment 2), thereby suggesting that semantic access is not always efficient in number processing. The results can be explained coherently within a general framework of word recognition by assuming that both the type of character and the word frequency play a critical role in determining the efficiency of semantic access.     

Affective significance enhances covert attention: roles of anxiety and word familiarity

To investigate the processing of emotional words by covert attention, threat-related, positive, and neutral word primes were presented parafoveally (2.2 degrees away from fixation) for 150 ms, under gaze-contingent foveal masking, to prevent eye fixations. The primes were followed by a probe word in a lexical-decision task. In Experiment 1, results showed a parafoveal threat-anxiety superiority: Parafoveal prime threat words facilitated responses to probe threat words for high-anxiety individuals, in comparison with neutral and positive words, and relative to low-anxiety individuals. This reveals an advantage in threat processing by covert attention, without differences in overt attention. However, anxiety was also associated with greater familiarity with threat words, and the parafoveal priming effects were significantly reduced when familiarity was covaried out. To further examine the role of word knowledge, in Experiment 2, vocabulary and word familiarity were equated for low- and high-anxiety groups. In these conditions, the parafoveal threat-anxiety advantage disappeared. This suggests that the enhanced covert-attention effect depends on familiarity with words.     

Affective significance enhances covert attention: Roles of anxiety and word familiarity

To investigate the processing of emotional words by covert attention, threat-related, positive, and neutral word primes were presented parafoveally (2.2° away from fixation) for 150 ms, under gaze-contingent foveal masking, to prevent eye fixations. The primes were followed by a probe word in a lexical-decision task. In Experiment 1, results showed a parafoveal threat–anxiety superiority: Parafoveal prime threat words facilitated responses to probe threat words for high-anxiety individuals, in comparison with neutral and positive words, and relative to low-anxiety individuals. This reveals an advantage in threat processing by covert attention, without differences in overt attention. However, anxiety was also associated with greater familiarity with threat words, and the parafoveal priming effects were significantly reduced when familiarity was covaried out. To further examine the role of word knowledge, in Experiment 2, vocabulary and word familiarity were equated for low- and high-anxiety groups. In these conditions, the parafoveal threat–anxiety advantage disappeared. This suggests that the enhanced covert-attention effect depends on familiarity with words.     

When words and space collide: Spatial attention interacts with lexical access during word recognition

Recent research has suggested an important role for spatial attention in reading, however the nature of this influence is unclear. Further, it has been shown that intention to engage in linguistic processing can enhance lexical processing. Therefore, we developed a novel paradigm to examine the impact of spatial attention on primed and unprimed lexical processing. In a lexical decision task, targets were preceded by a cue to lexical access and spatial location simultaneously. Results indicated that on spatially valid trials, the lexical cuing effect was large and word processing was enhanced, suggesting that spatial attention influences lexical access. On spatially invalid trials, lexical cuing effects were significantly decreased, resulting in a spatial cuing by lexical cuing interaction. Results from this experiment provide evidence that spatial attention interacts with lexical access during word processing. This novel paradigm provides a new avenue for exploring the relations between spatial attention and reading processes.     

Parallel processing of whole words and morphemes in visual word recognition

Models of morphological processing make different predictions about whether morphologically complex written words are initially decomposed and recognized on the basis of their morphemic subunits or whether they can directly be accessed as whole words and at what point semantics begin to influence morphological processing. In this study, we used unprimed and masked primed lexical decision to compare truly suffixed (darkest) and pseudosuffixed words (glossary) with within-boundary (d ra kest/g ol ssary) to across-boundary (dar ek st/glos as ry) letter transpositions. Significant transposed-letter similarity effects were found independently of the morphological position of the letter transposition, demonstrating that, in English, morphologically complex whole-word representations can be directly accessed at initial word processing stages. In a third masked primed lexical decision experiment, the same materials were used in the context of stem target priming, and it was found that truly suffixed primes facilitate the recognition of their stem-target (darkest–DARK) to the same extent as pseudosuffixed primes (glossary–GLOSS), which is consistent with theories of early morpho-orthographic decomposition. Taken together, our findings provide evidence for both whole-word access and morphological decomposition at initial stages of visual word recognition and are discussed in the context of a hybrid account.     

Parallel processing of whole words and morphemes in visual word recognition

Models of morphological processing make different predictions about whether morphologically complex written words are initially decomposed and recognized on the basis of their morphemic subunits or whether they can directly be accessed as whole words and at what point semantics begin to influence morphological processing. In this study, we used unprimed and masked primed lexical decision to compare truly suffixed (darkest) and pseudosuffixed words (glossary) with within-boundary (d ra kest/g ol ssary) to across-boundary (dar ek st/glos as ry) letter transpositions. Significant transposed-letter similarity effects were found independently of the morphological position of the letter transposition, demonstrating that, in English, morphologically complex whole-word representations can be directly accessed at initial word processing stages. In a third masked primed lexical decision experiment, the same materials were used in the context of stem target priming, and it was found that truly suffixed primes facilitate the recognition of their stem-target (darkest-DARK) to the same extent as pseudosuffixed primes (glossary-GLOSS), which is consistent with theories of early morpho-orthographic decomposition. Taken together, our findings provide evidence for both whole-word access and morphological decomposition at initial stages of visual word recognition and are discussed in the context of a hybrid account.     

Spatial attention modulates feature crosstalk in visual word processing

One major idea about spatial attention is that it serves to modulate crosstalk between features during reading. Two reading aloud experiments are reported in which a cue-validity manipulation was combined with manipulations that are thought to increase the likelihood of feature-level crosstalk: interletter spacing and the presence or absence of irrelevant features. Both experiments yielded an interaction between the effects of spatial cuing and each of these factors. These results are taken to support the hypothesis that when spatial attention is focused on the word, it provides protection against crosstalk among features in the context of reading aloud.     

Reliability of familiarity rating of ordinary Japanese words for different years and places

Two-word familiarity sets were measured in different years (1995 and 2002) and places (Kanto and Kinki, in Japan) for a large number of Japanese words, to examine the reliability of familiarity ratings. The correlation between the word familiarities of the two sets was extremely high (r = .958, N = 10,515). It is suggested that familiarity rating, at least for ordinary words found in a dictionary, is very reliable and not greatly affected by differences in years and places.     

中文词间词和词内词预视加工的差异：词间阴影的作用

为了考察词语的属性特征对预视加工的影响, 实验操纵注视字与预视字是否属于一个语言单元, 利用眼动轨迹记录法并结合边界范式以探讨其对预视效应的影响。此外, 考察了词边界信息对词间词和词内词预视加工的影响。结果显示, 词内词的预视效应大于词间词, 词间阴影、非词阴影条件下的预视效应和正常条件之间没有差异。说明阴影提供的词边界对词间词和词内词的预视加工无影响, 支持词切分和词汇识别模型, 即词切分和词汇识别是同时进行的。     

Divided attention and prerecognition processing of spoken words and nonwords

Three recognition memory experiments examined phonemic similarity and false recognition under conditions of divided attention. The manipulation was presumed to have little effect on automatic, perceptual influences of memory. Prior research demonstrated that false recognition of a test word (e.g., discrepancy) was higher if the study list included a nonword derived from the future test word by changing a phoneme near the end of the item (e.g., discrepan/l/y) relative to an early phoneme change (e.g., /l/iscrepancy). The difference has been attributed to automatic, implicit activation of test words during prerecognition processing of related nonwords. Three experiments demonstrated that the late-change condition also contributed to higher false recognition rates with divided attention at encoding. Dividing attention disrupted recognition memory of studied words in Experiments 1 and 3. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance for an interpretation emphasizing the automatic, implicit activation of candidate words that occurs in the course of identifying spoken words and nonwords.     

Illusory words: the roles of attention and of top-down constraints in conjoining letters to form words

When attention is divided among four briefly exposed syllables, subjects mistakenly detect targets whose letters are present in the display but in the wrong combinations. These illusory conjunctions are somewhat more frequent when the target is a word and when the distractors are nonwords, but the effects of lexical status are small, and no longer reach significance in free report of the same displays. Search performance is further impaired if the nonwords are unpronounceable consonant strings rather than consonant-vowel-consonant strings, but the decrement is due to missed targets rather than to increased conjunction errors. The results are discussed in relation to feature-integration theory and to current models of word perception.     

Foveal processing and word skipping during reading

An eyetracking experiment is reported examining the assumption that a word is skipped during sentence reading because parafoveal processing during preceding fixations has reached an advanced level in recognizing that word. Word n was presented with reduced contrast, with case alternation, or normally. Reingold and Rayner (2006) reported that, in comparison to the normal condition, reduced contrast increased viewing times on word n but not on word n+1, whereas case alternation increased viewing times on both words. These patterns were reflected in the fixation times of the present experiment, but a striking dissociation was observed in the skipping of word n+1: The reduced contrast of word n decreased skipping of word n+1, whereas case alternation did not. Apart from the amount of parafoveal processing, the decision to skip word n+1 is also influenced by the ease of processing word n: Difficulties in processing word n lead to a more conservative strategy in the decision to skip word n+1.     

Letters and words in word identification

Studies by Barron and Henderson (1977) and Johnson (1975) provide evidence that whole words may be the unit of identification in word perception, rather than single letters. Johnson found that words were matched faster than a letter to the first letter in a word. Barron and Henderson found faster matching times for words than for legal non-word items in a letter-matching task. These findings support the interpretation that words are identified before individual letters. If so, a word-frequency effect should be expected. Experiments 1 and 2 tested for word vs. first-letter-in-word differences, as well as for a word-frequency effect in simultaneous and delayed visual matching tasks. In the simultaneous task, first letters in words were matched faster than words. In the delayed task, there was no difference between matching words or matching the first letters in words. With both tasks there was a word-frequency effect for word matches but not for first-letter-in-word matches. In Experiment 3, first-letter matching time was unrelated to word frequency or lexical status, although it did vary with orthographic legality. These results, on the whole, are consistent with a race model in which identifications take place simultaneously at word, letter-cluster, and letter levels, rather than a sequential model in which the whole word is identified before the component letters.     

Eye movement control during reading: Effects of word frequency and orthographic familiarity

Word frequency and orthographic familiarity were independently manipulated as readers' eye movements were recorded. Word frequency influenced fixation durations and the probability of word skipping when orthographic familiarity was controlled. These results indicate that lexical processing of words can influence saccade programming (as shown by fixation durations and which words are fixated). Orthographic familiarity, but not word frequency, influenced the duration of prior fixations. These results provide evidence for orthographic, but not lexical, parafoveal-on-foveal effects. Overall, the findings have a crucial implication for models of eye movement control in reading: There must be sufficient time for lexical factors to influence saccade programming before saccade metrics and timing are finalized. The conclusions are critical for the fundamental architecture of models of eye movement control in reading -- namely, how to reconcile long saccade programming times and complex linguistic influences on saccades during reading.     

Lexical processing in children and adults during word copying

Copying text may seem trivial, but the task itself is psychologically complex. It involves a series of sequential visual and cognitive processes, which must be co-ordinated; these include visual encoding, mental representation and written production. To investigate the time course of word processing during copying, we recorded eye movements of adults and children as they hand-copied isolated words presented on a classroom board. Longer and lower frequency words extended adults' encoding durations, suggesting whole word encoding. Only children's short word encoding was extended by lower frequency. Though children spent more time encoding long words compared to short words, gaze durations for long words were extended similarly for high- and low-frequency words. This suggested that for long words children used partial word representations and encoded multiple sublexical units rather than single whole words. Piecemeal word representation underpinned copying longer words in children, but reliance on partial word representations was not shown in adult readers.