Letter coding in visual word recognition: The impact of embedded words

Taft, Marcus; Xu, Joe; Li, Sonny

doi:10.1016/j.jml.2016.05.002

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(105 reference statements)

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“…This finding constitutes important evidence against any sequential beginning-to-end processing bias that might influence complex word recognition (for converging evidence, see also Bowers, Davis, & Hanley, 2005). Our results also converge with previous evidence for embedded word activation mechanisms in monomorphemic nonwords (e.g., wish in dwish; Davis & Taft, 2005; Taft et al, 2017). In line with our present findings, Taft et al (2017) suggest that edge-alignedness is an important factor underlying embedded word processing (i.e., initial and final consonants have priority in assigning letters to their position), whereas priming is not expected to arise for a mid- or outer-embedded words because of the disruption to the onset + vowel + coda structure of the target.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The second key finding is that the magnitude of priming was the same whether the target word was the first or the second constituent of the prime ( textbook-BOOK vs. textbook-TEXT ). This result is compatible with previous studies investigating compound word processing (Crepaldi et al, 2013; Duñabeitia, Laka, Perea, & Carreiras, 2009; Duñabeitia, Marín, et al, 2009; Libben, Gibson, Yoon, & Sandra, 2003; Monsell, 1985; Sandra, 1990; Shoolman & Andrews, 2003; Zwitserlood, 1994), and suggests that both constituents of a compound word contribute equally to lexical access (but see Taft & Forster, 1976; Taft, Xu, & Li, 2017, who suggest that the first constituent is more important). Unlike prefixes and suffixes, embedded words are not subject to positional constraints, and this can explain why the identification of stem morphemes is position independent (Crepaldi et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

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Taking the Book from the Bookshelf: Masked Constituent Priming Effects from Compound Words and Nonwords

Beyersmann

Kezilas

Coltheart

et al. 2018

Journal of Cognition

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Recent evidence from visual word recognition points to the important role of embedded words, suggesting that embedded words are activated independently of whether they are accompanied by an affix or a non-affix. The goal of the present research was to more closely examine the mechanisms involved in embedded word activation, particularly with respect to the "edgealignedness" of the embedded word. We conducted two experiments that used masked priming in combination with lexical decision. In Experiment 1, monomorphemic target words were either preceded by a compound word prime (e.g., textbook-BOOK/textbook-TEXT), a compound-nonword prime (e.g., pilebook-BOOK/textpile-TEXT), a non-compound nonword prime (e.g., pimebook-BOOK/textpime-TEXT) or an unrelated prime (e.g., textjail-BOOK/jailbook-TEXT). The results revealed significant priming effects, not only in the compound word and compound-nonword conditions, but also in the non-compound nonword condition, suggesting that embedded words (e.g., book) were activated independently of whether they occurred in combination with a real morpheme (e.g., pilebook) or a non-morphemic constituent (e.g., pimebook). Priming in the compound word condition was greater than in the two nonword conditions, indicating that participants benefited from the whole-word representation of real compound words. Constituent priming occurred independently of whether the target word was the first or the second embedded constituent of the prime (e.g., textbook-BOOK vs. textbook-TEXT). In Experiment 2, significant priming effects were found for edge-aligned embedded constituents (e.g., pimebook-BOOK), but not for mid-embedded (e.g., pibookme-BOOK) or the outer-embedded constituents (e.g., bopimeok-BOOK), suggesting that edge-alignedness is a key factor determining the activation of embedded words.Keywords: compound word processing; embedded words; masked priming; lexical decision For many years, researchers have examined the mechanisms involved in reading morphologically complex words. It is widely agreed upon that complex words are automatically decomposed into morphemic subunits during the initial stages of visual word recognition (as initially suggested by Taft & Forster, 1975). It has been proposed that the segmentation of morphologically complex words is based on a mechanism that identifies and strips off the affix, which then in turn allows the identification of the stem morpheme. However, this hypothesis has recently been challenged by Grainger and Beyersmann (2017) suggesting that embedded words (rather than affixes) represent the primary reading units that initiate morphological segmentation. The focus of our present study was therefore on the role of the stem, rather than the affix, during early visual word recognition. In particular, our goal was to shed more light on the mechanisms involved in activating words embedded in compound words and compound nonwords.Evidence obtained with various paradigms suggests that the processing of the constituent lexemes in compound words, such as text and...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Taking the Book from the Bookshelf: Masked Constituent Priming Effects from Compound Words and Nonwords

Beyersmann

Kezilas

Coltheart

et al. 2018

Journal of Cognition

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“…Most computational models of written-word recognition cannot account for the present findings, as they assign the same role to vowels and consonants. To accommodate the present data, the front-end orthographic scheme of leading models of written-word identification and reading should assign a stronger role to consonant than to vowel letters from the earliest stages of processing (see Duñabeitia & Carreiras, 2011; Taft et al, 2017, for discussion). This consonant/vowel dissociation should apply not only to the encoding of letter identities but also to the encoding of letter positions (see Carreiras, Vergara, & Perea, 2009; Comesaña et al, 2016; Lupker, Perea, & Davis, 2008; Perea & Lupker, 2004, for evidence of consonant/vowel differences in letter position coding).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…For instance, in the two-cycle model proposed by Berent and Perfetti (1995), consonants are quickly processed in an initial cycle, whereas vowels are processed more slowly in a second cycle. Similarly, the subsyllabic processing account proposed by Taft, Xu, and Li (2017) assumes that “vowels are immediately differentiated from consonants” and that “the orthographic system comprises a hierarchical set of units representing onsets, vowels, and codas” (pp. 19–20).…”

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confidence: 99%

Does consonant–vowel skeletal structure play a role early in lexical processing? Evidence from masked priming

Perea

Marcet

Acha

2017

Applied Psycholinguistics

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Is the specific consonant-vowel (CV) letter combination of a word a basic source of information for lexical access in the early stages of processing? We designed two masked priming lexical decision experiments to respond to this question by directly examining the role of CV skeletal structure in writtenword recognition. To that aim, each target word was preceded by a one-letter different nonword prime that kept the same CV skeletal structure or not. We also included an identity prime as a control. Results showed faster word identification times in the CV congruent condition than in the CV incongruent condition when a consonant was replaced from the target (paesaje-PAISAJE < parsaje-PAISAJE), but not when it was a vowel (alusno-ALUMNO = alueno-ALUMNO). This dissociation poses problems for those accounts based on an early activation of the CV skeletal structure during lexical processing. Instead, this pattern of data favors the view that it is the word's consonant skeleton rather than the CV skeletal structure that is the key element in the early phases of word processing. We discuss the theoretical and methodological implications of these findings.

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“…For researchers interested in studying, as another example, reading and visual word recognition, a single colour per word is simply not sufficient. In order to contribute meaningfully to the long-standing debate over how different letters inform the recognition of a word [41], researchers must be able to model how each letter contributes to the overall royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rstb Phil. Trans.…”

Section: Implications For the Psycholinguistics Of Synaesthesiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Deepening understanding of language through synaesthesia: a call to reform and expand

Mankin

2019

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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In this paper, I present arguments and suggestions for the improvement of the scientific study of synaesthesia, and particularly grapheme-colour synaesthesia in relation to psycholinguistic research, although the principles I advocate can be easily adapted to any subfield of synaesthesia study. I postulate that the current state of research on synaesthesia in general, and on grapheme-colour synaesthesia in particular, suffers from a lack of exploratory evidence and essential groundwork upon which to build hypothesis-testing studies. In particular, I argue that synaesthesia research has been artificially bounded by assumptions about the nature of synaesthetic experiences, which constrain both the questions that researchers ask and the way in which they go about answering those questions. As a specific example, I detail how much of the current research on grapheme-colour synaesthesia is built to accommodate two major assumptions about the nature of colours for letters and for words—assumptions which I will contend are not universally true, and the exceptions to which point to a much richer and heterogeneous understanding of synaesthetic experience than current research practices capture. The top-down predetermination of what is important or meaningful to measure, and what is not, has subsequently impeded a full understanding of what synaesthesia is and how it works. I argue that these assumptions must be carefully addressed and evaluated, both for the particular case of grapheme-colour synaesthesia and for the field as a whole, to move towards a holistic and fruitful understanding of synaesthesia as a phenomenon and as a tool to study language, thought and perception. To that end, I propose specific recommendations for synaesthesia researchers to solidify and expand their understanding and to capture the actual experience of synaesthetes. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Bridging senses: novel insights from synaesthesia’.

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Letter coding in visual word recognition: The impact of embedded words

Cited by 14 publications

References 41 publications

Taking the Book from the Bookshelf: Masked Constituent Priming Effects from Compound Words and Nonwords

Taking the Book from the Bookshelf: Masked Constituent Priming Effects from Compound Words and Nonwords

Does consonant–vowel skeletal structure play a role early in lexical processing? Evidence from masked priming

Deepening understanding of language through synaesthesia: a call to reform and expand

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