The case of the neglected alphasyllabary: Orthographic processing in Devanagari

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 302-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaitra Rao ◽  
Shweta Soni ◽  
Nandini Chatterjee Singh
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Orthographic Processing ◽  
Universal Models ◽  
Character Position ◽  
Multicultural Perspectives

AbstractWe applaud Ram Frost for highlighting the need for multicultural perspectives while developing universal models of visual word recognition. We second Frost's proposal that factors like lexical morphology should be incorporated besides purely orthographic features in modeling word recognition. In support, we provide fresh evidence from Hindi (written in Devanagari), an example of hitherto under-represented alphasyllabic orthographies, in which flexible encoding of akṣara (character) position is constrained by the morphological structure of words.

Visual word recognition models should also be constrained by knowledge about the visual system

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 287-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Gomez ◽  
Sarah Silins
Keyword(s):  
Object Recognition ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Universal Models ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Models Of Reading ◽  
Reading Models

AbstractFrost's article advocates for universal models of reading and critiques recent models that concentrate in what has been described as “cracking the orthographic code.” Although the challenge to develop models that can account for word recognition beyond Indo-European languages is welcomed, we argue that reading models should also be constrained by general principles of visual processing and object recognition.

Neural Correlates of Morphological Decomposition during Visual Word Recognition

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 1983-1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian T. Gold ◽  
Kathleen Rastle
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Complex Words

Considerable behavioral research has demonstrated that the visual word recognition system is sensitive to morphological structure. It has typically been assumed that analysis of morphologically complex words occurs only when the meaning of these words can be derived from the meanings of their constituents (e.g., hunter = hunt + er). However, results from recent behavioral research using the masked priming technique have demonstrated that morphological analysis can occur at an earlier orthographic level, in cases in which the meanings of complex words cannot be derived from their constituents (e.g., corner = corn + er). Here, we combine the logic of behavioral masked priming with the neurophysiological phenomenon of functional magnetic resonance imaging priming suppression to look for evidence of nonsemantic morphological priming at the neural level. Both behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging results indicated priming effects associated with the mere appearance of morphological structure (corner—CORN). In addition, these effects were distinguishable from lexical-semantic effects (bucket—PAIL) and orthographic effects (brothel—BROTH). Three left-lateralized occipito-temporal regions showed sensitivity to early morphological components of visual word recognition. Two of these regions also showed orthographic priming (∼BA 37, peak: −48 −60 −17; ∼BA 19, peak: −40 −77 −1), whereas one was sensitive only to morphological similarity between primes and targets (∼BA 19, peak: ∼37 ∼67 ∼7). These findings provide a neurobiological basis for a purely structural morphemic segmentation mechanism operating at early stages of visual word recognition.

scholarly journals Real-time Functional Architecture of Visual Word Recognition

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Whiting ◽  
Yury Shtyrov ◽  
William Marslen-Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Functional Architecture ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Complex Words

Despite a century of research into visual word recognition, basic questions remain unresolved about the functional architecture of the process that maps visual inputs from orthographic analysis onto lexical form and meaning and about the units of analysis in terms of which these processes are conducted. Here we use magnetoencephalography, supported by a masked priming behavioral study, to address these questions using contrasting sets of simple (walk), complex (swimmer), and pseudo-complex (corner) forms. Early analyses of orthographic structure, detectable in bilateral posterior temporal regions within a 150–230 msec time frame, are shown to segment the visual input into linguistic substrings (words and morphemes) that trigger lexical access in left middle temporal locations from 300 msec. These are primarily feedforward processes and are not initially constrained by lexical-level variables. Lexical constraints become significant from 390 msec, in both simple and complex words, with increased processing of pseudowords and pseudo-complex forms. These results, consistent with morpho-orthographic models based on masked priming data, map out the real-time functional architecture of visual word recognition, establishing basic feedforward processing relationships between orthographic form, morphological structure, and lexical meaning.

Letter/character position encoding in visual word recognition

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1132
Author(s):  
Huimin HUA ◽  
Junjuan GU ◽  
Nan LIN ◽  
Xingshan LI
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Character Position

The study of orthographic processing has broadened research in visual word recognition

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 309-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Whitney
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Orthographic Processing

AbstractInterest in orthographic processing reflects an expansion, not constriction, of the scope of research in visual word recognition (VWR). Transposition effects are merely one aspect of investigations into orthographic encoding, while open bigrams can accommodate differences across languages. The target article's inaccurate characterization of the study of orthographic processing is not conducive to the advancement of VWR research.

scholarly journals A universal approach to modeling visual word recognition and reading: Not only possible, but also inevitable

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 310-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ram Frost
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Orthographic Processing ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Complex Information ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Large Scope ◽  
Cognitive Principles ◽  
Viable Approach

AbstractI have argued that orthographic processing cannot be understood and modeled without considering the manner in which orthographic structure represents phonological, semantic, and morphological information in a given writing system. A reading theory, therefore, must be a theory of the interaction of the reader with his/her linguistic environment. This outlines a novel approach to studying and modeling visual word recognition, an approach that focuses on the common cognitive principles involved in processing printed words across different writing systems. These claims were challenged by several commentaries that contested the merits of my general theoretical agenda, the relevance of the evolution of writing systems, and the plausibility of finding commonalities in reading across orthographies. Other commentaries extended the scope of the debate by bringing into the discussion additional perspectives. My response addresses all these issues. By considering the constraints of neurobiology on modeling reading, developmental data, and a large scope of cross-linguistic evidence, I argue that front-end implementations of orthographic processing that do not stem from a comprehensive theory of the complex information conveyed by writing systems do not present a viable approach for understanding reading. The common principles by which writing systems have evolved to represent orthographic, phonological, and semantic information in a language reveal the critical distributional characteristics of orthographic structure that govern reading behavior. Models of reading should thus be learning models, primarily constrained by cross-linguistic developmental evidence that describes how the statistical properties of writing systems shape the characteristics of orthographic processing. When this approach is adopted, a universal model of reading is possible.

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