Research on visual word recognition: from verbal learning to parallel distributed processing.
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Cognition↗
Biomedical subjects
C M Herdman
Publications and source records attributed to C M Herdman.
Imageability effects in word naming: an individual differences analysis.
The present research was designed to extend research by Strain, Patterson, and Seidenberg (1995) who found that imageability facilitates naming of low-frequency irregular words. Experiment 1 shows that the impact of imageability on word naming varies with phonological coding skill. In Experiment 2, the effect of imageability on naming low-frequency irregular words was shown to occur across an extended set of items. Together, the present findings support the notion that semantics may play a role in phonological coding when the mappings between orthography and phonology are weak.
Adult↗
Naming cAsE aLtErNaTeD words.
A dual-route approach was used as an initial framework to examine the relation between presentation format and lexical processing in a naming task. In Experiments 1 and 3, words were presented in lowercase versus case-alternated format. Presentation format interacted with word frequency and regularity: For irregular words (e.g., pint), case alternation was additive with frequency, whereas for regular words (e.g., mint), case alternation and frequency interacted. Experiment 2 dissociated the locus of case-alternation effects from those of stimulus intensity. Stimulus intensity was additive with frequency and regularity, suggesting that whereas stimulus intensity affects encoding, case alternation affects lexical processing at a postencoding stage in the word recognition system. It was concluded that a dual-route approach provides a suggestive but incomplete account of how case alternation influences lexical processing. As an alternative to a dual-route approach, we show that the present results can be addressed and successfully simulated using an implemented version of Norris's (1994) multilevel model.
Female↗
Attentional resource demands of visual word recognition in naming and lexical decisions.
Attentional demands of lexical access were assessed with dual-task methodology. Subjects performed an auditory probe task alone (single-task) or combined (dual-task) with either a lexical decision or a naming task. In Experiment 1, probe performance showed a decrement from single- to dual-task conditions during recognition of words in both lexical decision and naming tasks. In addition, decrements in probe performance were larger during processing of low-frequency compared with high-frequency words in both of the word recognition tasks. Experiment 2 showed that the time course of frequency-sensitive demands was similar across lexical decision and naming tasks and that attention is required early in the word recognition sequence. The results support the assumption that lexical access is both frequency sensitive and attention demanding.
Adult↗
Directed attention and perception of temporal order.
The present research examined the effects of directed attention on speed of information transmission in the visual system. Ss judged the temporal order of 2 stimuli while directing attention toward 1 of the stimuli or away from both stimuli. Perception of temporal order was influenced by directed attention: Given equal onset times, the attended stimulus appeared to occur before the unattended stimulus. Direction of attention also influenced the perception of simultaneity. The findings support the notion that attention affects the speed of transmission of information in the visual system. To account for the pattern of temporal order and simultaneity judgments, a model is proposed in which the temporal profile of visual responses is affected by directed attention.
Adult↗
Attentional demands of visual word recognition.
Becker's (1976, 1979, 1980, 1985; Becker & Killion, 1977; Eisenberg & Becker, 1982) verification model was used as a framework to investigate the attentional demands of word recognition. In two experiments, a lexical decision task and an auditory probe task were performed in single- and dual-task conditions. Responses to probes were divided into detection and movement measures that indexed the demands of recognition and response output, respectively. In Experiment 1, single- to dual-task decrements in probe detection performance were larger during low-frequency as compared with high-frequency trials. This finding indicates that the attentional demands of word recognition vary with word frequency. These findings were replicated in Experiment 2, which was designed to separate a response compatibility and a capacity interpretation of the results. The findings are interpreted within Becker's verification model.
Adult↗
Multiple resources in divided attention: a cross-modal test of the independence of hemispheric resources.
Dual-task methodology was used to assess a multiple-resources account of information processing in which each cerebral hemisphere is assumed to have access to its own finite amount of attentional resources. A visually presented verbal memory task was paired with an auditory tone memory task, and subjects were paid to emphasize one task more than the other. When subjects were trying to remember tones presented to the right ear, they could trade performance between tasks as a function of the emphasis condition, whereas on left-ear trials they could not. In addition, a control session indicated that stimuli presented to the unattended ear demanded processing resources, even when it was to the detriment of performance. The data support the assumption of independence between the hemispheres' resource supplies.
Attention↗