Paivio (1975) found that the latency to choose the larger of two named objects does not depend on congruity between the object sizes and the sizes of the object names. Because size congruity does affect latencies for pictorially presented objects, Paivio interpreted this result as support for the dual coding hypothesis. However, Experiment 1 demonstrated that Paivio's results were an artifact of his experimental design. Size congruity does affect latencies to choose the larger of two named objects when object pairs are not repeated. When the same object pairs are used repeatedly, as in Paivio's experiment, the effect disappears. In this case the response is probably remembered, so that the objects need not be compared. To determine the processing stages affected by size congruity, both the distance between stimulus sizes and the size congruity were manipulated in Experiment 2. Three groups of subjects chose either the greater Arabic digit, the greater named digit, or the larger named object. Size congruity interacted with distance only for Arabic digits. For both Arabic digits and named digits, the interference caused by size incongruity was greater than the facilitation caused by size congruity, whereas for object names, the facilitation was greater than the interference. A model of the interaction between physical size comparisons and conceptual size comparisons is proposed to account for these results.

In this paper, we describe the application of new computer and speech synthesis technologies for reading instruction. Stories are presented on the computer screen, and readers may designate words or parts of words that they cannot read for immediate speech feedback. The important contingency between speech sounds and their corresponding letter patterns is emphasized by displaying the letter patterns in reverse video as they are spoken. Speech feedback is provided by an advanced text-to-speech synthesizer (DECtalk). Intelligibility data are presented, showing that DECtalk can be understood almost as well as natural human speech by both normal adults and reading disabled children. Preliminary data from 26 disabled readers indicate that there are significant benefits of speech feedback for reading comprehension and word recognition, and that children enjoy reading with the system. 93Recent advances in speech production for microcomputers have opened up some new and exciting possibilities in reading instruction. The system we have developed involves the reading of stories from the CRT screen of an Apple 11+ or an IBM PC. When children encounter a word that they are unsure how to read, they can target the word with a mouse or a light pen. The targeted word is then highlighted in reverse video and spoken by the computer.In addition to giving whole-word feedback, the computer can orthographically segment and speak targeted words at syllable and subsyllable levels. The simultaneous highlighting of the orthographic segment and presentation of its corresponding speech sound provides a powerful way of emphasizing the relations between letter patterns and their sounds during reading of natural text. Thus, the computer-based reading and speech-feedback system is designed to support the long-term improvement We thank the teachers and students from University Hill Elementary School and from Alameda Senior High School for their participation in the research. Vicki Steele edited the phonetic feedback files for the stories, and Mark Nash developed the feedback programs for the IBM PC. Jan Keenan made helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. Requests for reprints should be addressed to the first author at the Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309. of disabled and beginning readers' phonological decoding skills, in addition to providing on-line feedback for learning how to read specific words in the text.Our long-term research goal is to determine the optimal levels of feedback segmentation for individual disabled and beginning readers, depending on their unique profiles of reading and language skills. The present studies were designed to answer some preliminary questions concerning the intelligibility of synthesized speech, the optimal methods of targeting words on the screen, and the short-term influences of the different feedback conditions on disabled readers' comprehension and word recognition in short stories.We will first summarize some results from our earlier research with dis...

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Systems for creating and running psychology experiments on an Apple II or IBM PC are described. Without programming, psychologists using the APT systems can construct and conduct an experiment, summarize the data, and revise the experiment. The systems are easily used by students but powerful enough to be used by psychologists in their research.The APT system allows psychologists to create new experiments, edit existing experiments, run experiments, and perform preliminary data analyses without any programming. The original version of APT (Poltrock & Foltz, 1982) was intended to simplify creating, modifying, and running psychometric and cognitive tests and experiments. APT II and APT PC expand the capabilities of the original version and are much easier to use. Using an interactive editor, experiments are created and modified by first defining different kinds of stimuli, then entering the text of each stimulus. Running an experiment generally requires only providing the names of input and output files. Summarizing the results requires little more than defining an experimental condition for each stimulus.Psychologists who use the APT systems can concentrate on the details of their experimental methodology without being distracted by the programming required to implement the methodology. The APT systems were designed to be used in research, but have also proven useful for teaching laboratory methods. Instructors have used APT to construct experiments that demonstrate cognitive phenomena and experimental methodology. Because the APT systems are easy to use, students can construct their own experiments or explore methodological variations by editing an existing experiment.Using the APT systems, psychologists avoid programming, but at the cost of constraints on their experiments. Stimuli can be composed only of text; no graphics, animation, sounds, or external devices are supported. Stimuli and responses are synchronized such that no stimulus can be presented until the response to the preceding stimulus is completed. Consequently, double stimulation experiments, which require simultaneous timing of multiple responses, cannot be conducted. The stimulus order cannot be contingent on the responses, which rules out use of the APT systems for computer assisted instruction.These systems were developed and are sold by the partnership of Gregory Foltz and Steven Poltrock. The cost of either system is $100, and the source code for either system costs an additional $100. To purchase APT Il or APT PC, to request reprints of this article, or to request additional information, write to either of the authors at their home addresses. Steven Poltrock's address is 8200 Neely Dr. #149, Austin, TX 78759. Gregory Foltz's address is 1650 Fairoak Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80907.There are also timing and size limitations, which are described below. Despite these constraints, the vast majority of memory and cognition experiments can be conducted using the APT systems. HARDWARE AND SOFfWARE REQUIREMENTS APTDThe names of the two APT systems a...

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