Week 6 (Word Recognition)

Question 1

The evolution of reading (brief overview)

Answer 1

200,000 years: First evidence of anatomically modern humans
100,000 years: Evolution of language
5,000 years: Evidence of first writing systems

Question 2

Similarities of written language to spoken language

Answer 2

Many of the same skills used, e.g,
-Language skills
-Memory
-Executive function
-Attention
-Theory of mind

Question 3

Differences of written language to spoken language

Answer 3

-Differ in physical form and the social function of the message
-Additional skills needed for both

Question 4

Differences in physical form between spoken and written language

Answer 4

Auditory Modality VS Visuospatial Modality

Temporary VS Permanent

Additional cues VS Less access to additional cues

Question 5

Differences in complexity + speed between spoken and written language

Answer 5

-We use more complex and rare
words in written context
-We speak at 150 WPM, but read at 200-300 WPM

Question 6

Word superiority effect

Answer 6

-Participants perform more accurately when stimulus is a word, than when it is a random letter string

Question 7

Phoneme

Answer 7

The smallest unit of sound that can alter meaning

Question 8

Grapheme

Answer 8

Basic unit of written language, a letter or combination of letters corresponding to a phoneme

Question 9

Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondence

Answer 9

-The spelling-sound mapping rules of the language
-Rules are not simple one-to-one mappings

Question 10

Regularity and Consistency

Answer 10

Regularity
-Degree to which the particular graphemes of a word correspond to particular phonemes

Consistency
-Is a particular spelling typically pronounced in the same way

Question 11

Heteronym

Answer 11

-A type of homograph (words with the same spelling)
-Both the meaning AND the pronunciation of a word is different despite using the same spelling
E.G
*Don’t desert me here in the desert
*I read the key reading yesterday but I might have the read it again

Question 12

Homophone

Answer 12

-Words which are pronounced the same but spelt differently
E.G
*Am I allowed to speak aloud
*They’re going to put their shopping over there

Question 13

What influences the speed of word recognition

Answer 13

-Word frequency (commonly occurring words are recognised quicker)
-Word regularity (Regularly spelled words are read more quickly than irregular words)
-Lexical neighbourhoods (Number of words possible to create by changing only one letter)
-Imageability (How easy it is to create a visual image of words)

Question 14

Ways to measure word recognition

Answer 14

-Fluency/efficiency of reading
-Lexical decision taks
-Semantic decision tasks
-Eye tracking tasks
-Neurophysiological

Question 15

Homophone effect

Answer 15

Semantic categorisation, does the word belong in a semantic category, yes or no.

Question 16

Strong phonological theory

Answer 16

The core lexical representations that underpin visual word recognition are phonological, and thus, phonological processing is a mandatory part of the recognition process

Question 17

What are the two routes of the Dual-route cascaded model of reading

Answer 17

Lexical route = Accessing mental lexicon (a store of known words) to retrieve pronunciation of the word

Sub-lexical route= Uses grapheme-phoneme rule system to convert written words into sounds.

Question 18

Problems with the Dual-route cascaded model of reading

Answer 18

-Even in irregular words, sounds must be active to some degree (yacht)
-How much is the print-speech route active when we read?

Question 19

Support for the Dual-route cascaded model of reading

Answer 19

-Very high rates of accuracy in reading both regular and irregular words
-Simulates several aspects of word reading in skilled readers

Question 20

The triangle model of reading

Answer 20

-Connectionist system suggests no need for separate mechanisms of word reading
-Parallel distributed processing: All sensory information and all stored knowledge used interactively to read all words
-Unlike dual-route, can model learning how to read
-‘Rules’ are not pre-specified
-Used to model different levels of success

Question 21

Comparing Dual-route and Triangle model

Answer 21

Computation
-DRC is two mechanisms (rules and lexical), the influence of regularity.
-Triangle is a single mechanism that spreads activation across simple neutron-like processing units, influence of consistency.

Learning
-DRC is not implemented: its an adult-state model
-For Triangle model, learning is a crucial aspect of the model

Cross Linguistic Applications
-N/A for DRC
-Triangle moel applicable for Chinese

Intervention Studies
-N/A for DRC
-Harm, McCandliss & Seidenberg (2003) for Triangle model