Exam 3 (Reading)

Question 1

Why is reading easier than speech perception? (4 reasons)

Answer 1

1. no word segmentation problem
2. no parallel transmission (one letter at a time)
3. can review (re-read) material
4. can control rate of information transmission

Question 2

In what ways is reading more difficult than speech perception? (4)

Answer 2

1. alphabetic characters don’t have unique phonetic equivalents (e.g. boat and hoe v. boat and boa)
2. context must be considered to assign phonemes to graphemes (e.g. /ea/ bread vs. bead)
3. small area of effective vision - only central area has high acuity
4. written language lacks prosody (changes in pitch, etc.)

Question 3

What is gaze-contingent paradigm?

Answer 3

unfamiliar words and words used to establish context had longer fixation

Question 4

Eye-contingent displays & moving window paradigm - what was found?

Answer 4

Reading rate increases as window expands from 1 to ~20 letters (3 words)

Question 5

Eyes move in ___ rather than in smooth continuous motion

Answer 5

saccades

Question 6

How long is a typical saccade?

Answer 6

7-9 letter spaces

Question 7

How long is typical fixation and what does it identify?

Answer 7

~200-250ms duration, identifies 1 word

Question 8

Most content words are ___ but some words get ___.

Answer 8

Fixated, skipped

Question 9

More content words are skipped if “___ ___” or text is ___.

Answer 9

speed reading, skipped

Question 10

Regression is related to comprehension difficulties and reader’s skill T/F

Answer 10

True

Question 11

Perceptual span?

Answer 11

region from which readers take in useful information; limited by vision and attention

Question 12

What is the typical perception span?

Answer 12

3-4 letters left, 15 letter spaces right. Increases with reading skill

Question 13

When are there more fixations and shorter movements?

Answer 13

• material is difficult
• long word
• hard to read text
• misspelled word
• low predictability

Question 14

How can preceding words or sentences influence fixation times?

Answer 14

ex. buttered popcorn vs adequate popcorn

Question 15

Indirect-Access (speech recoding) Hypothesis

Answer 15

word recognition occurs after phonetic/acoustic recoding

Question 16

What is the favored method of indirect-access hypothesis?

Answer 16

phonics

Question 17

What is the evidence for indirect-access hypothesis?

Answer 17

• sound out words
• hard to detect if similar (heard v herd)
• pseudohomophones
• phonics improves reading
• illiterate deaf

Question 18

What are the limitations of the indirect-access hypothesis?

Answer 18

homophones and reading speed

Question 19

What is the direct-access hypothesis?

Answer 19

readers recognize words directly from printed letters (graphemes translated to semantics

Question 20

What is the favored method for direct-access hypothesis?

Answer 20

Whole-word method (“look-say”)

Question 21

What is the evidence for direct-access hypothesis?

Answer 21

• homophones
• congenitally deaf can learn to read
• can skip words and still understand

Question 22

What is dual-access hypothesis?

Answer 22

need both indirect and direct access; phonics are critical

Question 23

What is the evidence for dual-access hypothesis?

Answer 23

• reading process is flexible and varies with skill of reader and specific word
• learning to read fluently involved moving from effortful phonological decoding to automatic (direct) recognition of words