Does Bold Emphasis Facilitate the Process of Visual-Word Recognition?

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Macaya ◽  
Manuel Perea
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Ideal Observer ◽  
Letter Recognition ◽  
Human Observer ◽  
Coding Schemes

AbstractThe study of the effects of typographical factors on lexical access has been rather neglected in the literature on visual-word recognition. Indeed, current computational models of visual-word recognition employ an unrefined letter feature level in their coding schemes. In a letter recognition experiment, Pelli, Burns, Farell, and Moore-Page (2006), letters in Bookman boldface produced more efficiency (i.e., a higher ratio of thresholds of an ideal observer versus a human observer) than the letters in Bookman regular under visual noise. Here we examined whether the effect of bold emphasis can be generalized to a common visual-word recognition task (lexical decision: “is the item a word?”) under standard viewing conditions. Each stimulus was presented either with or without bold emphasis (e.g., actor vs. actor). To help determine the locus of the effect of bold emphasis, word-frequency (low vs. high) was also manipulated. Results revealed that responses to words in boldface were faster than the responses to the words without emphasis –this advantage was restricted to low-frequency words. Thus, typographical features play a non-negligible role during visual-word recognition and, hence, the letter feature level of current models of visual-word recognition should be amended.

Does Viotin Activate Violin More Than Viocin?

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Perea ◽  
Victoria Panadero
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Developmental Dyslexia ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Base Word ◽  
Similar Response ◽  
Skilled Readers ◽  
Young Readers

The vast majority of neural and computational models of visual-word recognition assume that lexical access is achieved via the activation of abstract letter identities. Thus, a word’s overall shape should play no role in this process. In the present lexical decision experiment, we compared word-like pseudowords like viotín (same shape as its base word: violín) vs. viocín (different shape) in mature (college-aged skilled readers), immature (normally reading children), and immature/impaired (young readers with developmental dyslexia) word-recognition systems. Results revealed similar response times (and error rates) to consistent-shape and inconsistent-shape pseudowords for both adult skilled readers and normally reading children – this is consistent with current models of visual-word recognition. In contrast, young readers with developmental dyslexia made significantly more errors to viotín-like pseudowords than to viocín-like pseudowords. Thus, unlike normally reading children, young readers with developmental dyslexia are sensitive to a word’s visual cues, presumably because of poor letter representations.

Interplay between computational models and cognitive electrophysiology in visual word recognition

2007 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horacio A. Barber ◽  
Marta Kutas
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Visual Word

scholarly journals Early Event-related Potential Effects of Syllabic Processing during Visual Word Recognition

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 1803-1817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Carreiras ◽  
Marta Vergara ◽  
Horacio Barber
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Early Event ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
N400 Component

A number of behavioral studies have suggested that syllables might play an important role in visual word recognition in some languages. We report two event-related potential (ERP) experiments using a new paradigm showing that syllabic units modulate early ERP components. In Experiment 1, words and pseudowords were presented visually and colored so that there was a match or a mismatch between the syllable boundaries and the color boundaries. The results showed color-syllable congruency effects in the time window of the P200. Lexicality modulated the N400 amplitude, but no effects of this variable were obtained at the P200 window. In Experiment 2, high-and low-frequency words and pseudowords were presented in the congruent and incongruent conditions. The results again showed congruency effects at the P200 for low-frequency words and pseudowords, but not for high-frequency words. Lexicality and lexical frequency effects showed up at the N400 component. The results suggest a dissociation between syllabic and lexical effects with important consequences for models of visual word recognition.

scholarly journals Two Fixations Suffice in Face Recognition

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 998-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Hui-wen Hsiao ◽  
Garrison Cottrell
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Variable Number ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Eye Fixations

It is well known that there exist preferred landing positions for eye fixations in visual word recognition. However, the existence of preferred landing positions in face recognition is less well established. It is also unknown how many fixations are required to recognize a face. To investigate these questions, we recorded eye movements during face recognition. During an otherwise standard face-recognition task, subjects were allowed a variable number of fixations before the stimulus was masked. We found that optimal recognition performance is achieved with two fixations; performance does not improve with additional fixations. The distribution of the first fixation is just to the left of the center of the nose, and that of the second fixation is around the center of the nose. Thus, these appear to be the preferred landing positions for face recognition. Furthermore, the fixations made during face learning differ in location from those made during face recognition and are also more variable in duration; this suggests that different strategies are used for face learning and face recognition.

The Dopamine Receptor D2 C957T Polymorphism Modulates Early Components of Event-Related Potentials in Visual Word Recognition Task

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera E. Golimbet ◽  
Zhanna V. Garakh ◽  
Yuliya Zaytseva ◽  
Margarita V. Alfimova ◽  
Tatyana V. Lezheiko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Dopamine Receptor ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Dopamine Receptor D2 ◽  
Related Potentials

Do Transposed-Letter Similarity Effects Occur at a Syllable Level?

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 308-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Perea ◽  
Manuel Carreiras
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Letter Position ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Base Word ◽  
Coding Scheme ◽  
Coding Schemes ◽  
Single Presentation ◽  
Transposed Letters ◽  
Transposed Letter Effect

One key issue for any computational model of visual word recognition is the choice of an input coding scheme for assigning letter position. Recent research has shown that transposed-letter similarity effects occur even when the transposed letters are not adjacent (caniso- casino; Perea & Lupker, 2004 , JML). In the present study we conducted two single-presentation lexical decision experiments to examine whether transposed-letter effects occur at a syllable level. We tested two types of nonwords: (1) nonwords created by transposing two internal CV syllables (PRIVEMARA; the base word is primavera, the Spanish for spring) and (2) nonwords created by transposing two adjacent bigrams that do not form a syllable (PRIMERAVA). We also created the appropriate orthographic control conditions, in which the critical letters were replaced instead of being switched. Results showed that the transposition of two syllables or two adjacent bigrams produced a quite robust (and similar) transposed-letter effect. Thus, transposed-letter effects seem to occur at an early orthographic, graphemic level, rather than at a syllable level. We examine the implications of the observed results for the input coding schemes in visual word recognition.

Competing Perceptual Salience in a Visual Word Recognition Task Differentially Affects Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney E. Venker ◽  
Janine Mathée ◽  
Dominik Neumann ◽  
Jan Edwards ◽  
Jenny Saffran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Perceptual Salience

Visual Word Recognition

Linguistics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvin J. Yap
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Semantic Classification ◽  
Functional Relationships ◽  
Response Time Distributions

Words are the building blocks of language, and visual word recognition is a crucial prerequisite for skilled reading. Before we can pronounce a word or understand what it means, we have to first recognize it (i.e., the visually presented word makes contact with its underlying mental representation). Although several tasks have been developed to tap word recognition performance, researchers have primarily relied on lexical decision (classifying letter strings as words or nonwords), speeded pronunciation (reading a word or nonword aloud), and semantic classification (e.g., classifying a word as animate or inanimate). Despite the apparent ease of visual word recognition, the processes that support the mapping of spelling-to-sound and spelling-to-meaning are far from perfectly understood and remain the object of active investigations. Beyond shedding light on reading, literacy, and language development, the visual word recognition literature has helped inform our understanding of other cognitive domains (e.g., pattern recognition, attention, memory), while propelling advances in computational modeling and cognitive neuroscience. Because words can be coded and analyzed at multiple levels (e.g., orthography, phonology, semantics), much of empirical research has explored the functional relationships between orthographic, phonological, and semantic variables and word recognition performance across lexical processing tasks. In addition to studying the recognition of isolated words, there is a rich literature examining how different prime contexts influence the processing of subsequently presented words. Such primes can be orthographically, phonologically, semantically, or morphologically related to targets and are either visible or masked (i.e., presented so briefly that conscious perception is minimized). Turning to methodology, although the classical factorial design continues to dominate word recognition research, an increasing amount of work has been leveraging on the megastudy approach, whereby researchers examine word recognition performance for large sets of words, which are defined by the language rather than by the experimenter. Collectively, the basic findings from the isolated and primed visual word recognition performance have been used to develop and constrain increasingly powerful computational models of word recognition and task performance. Moving forward, the visual word recognition literature is likely to be increasingly characterized by studies that rely on powerful analytical tools (e.g., linear mixed effects analyses, analysis of response time distributions) and which give more consideration to the role of individual differences. Finally, in light of space constraints, this article focuses on references that deal with how visually presented English words are recognized. There is an important and growing literature that explores the lexical processing of other alphabetic (e.g., Spanish, French, German) and nonalphabetic (e.g., Chinese, Korean) languages and the interplay between languages in the multilingual lexicon.

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