Masked phonological priming effects in English - Center for Reading ...
Masked phonological priming effects in English - Center for Reading ...
Masked phonological priming effects in English - Center for Reading ...
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K. Rastle, M. Brysbaert / Cognitive Psychology 53 (2006) 97–145 101knowledge at which words are recognized is <strong>in</strong>fluenced jo<strong>in</strong>tly by process<strong>in</strong>g along directorthographic and <strong>in</strong>direct <strong>phonological</strong>ly mediated routes. Under normal read<strong>in</strong>g conditions,<strong>phonological</strong> process<strong>in</strong>g always occurs (i.e., there is no sense <strong>in</strong> either model that<strong>phonological</strong> process<strong>in</strong>g occurs only when it is required). Further, neither of these modelshas any obvious features that would prohibit a simulation of masked <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong>.Indeed, despite their weak-<strong>phonological</strong> architectures, these models have yieldedfavourable outcomes with regard to their ability to account <strong>for</strong> <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>effects</strong> onvisual word process<strong>in</strong>g. Harm and Seidenberg (2004), <strong>in</strong> particular, have demonstratedthat their weak <strong>phonological</strong> theory provides a sufficient account of a range of classic <strong>phonological</strong><strong>effects</strong> on word recognition <strong>in</strong>volv<strong>in</strong>g both homophones (e.g., Van Orden, 1987)and pseudohomophones (e.g., Van Orden, Johnston, & Hale, 1988). Similarly, us<strong>in</strong>g anearly version of the DRC model, Coltheart and Rastle (1994) produced a small simulationof the pseudohomophone effect on lexical decision, and even expressed confidence withregard to the potential <strong>for</strong> simulat<strong>in</strong>g masked <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>effects</strong>. Theyexpla<strong>in</strong>ed,...nonlexically derived <strong>phonological</strong> representations of pr<strong>in</strong>ted stimuli ga<strong>in</strong>access to the visual word recognition system very early on <strong>in</strong> process<strong>in</strong>g, certa<strong>in</strong>lyearlier than the po<strong>in</strong>t at which lexical decisions are made or a read<strong>in</strong>g-aloudresponse occurs.... Hence, we are optimistic about the capacity of the DRCmodel to simulate <strong>phonological</strong> masked <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>effects</strong> such as those reportedby Perfetti and Bell (1991) and Ferrand and Gra<strong>in</strong>ger (1992). (Coltheart &Rastle, 1994, p. 1202).Clearly, either of these weak <strong>phonological</strong> theories may be significantly more robust tomasked <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong> phenomena than the characterization, <strong>for</strong> example, put<strong>for</strong>th by Frost (1998).In this article, we contribute to a resolution of these empirical and theoretical issues. Ourfirst aim is to determ<strong>in</strong>e whether there is a masked <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong> effect on <strong>English</strong>visual word recognition. <strong>English</strong> is of particular <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> this context not only because themajor implemented models of skilled read<strong>in</strong>g all deal with <strong>English</strong> stimuli but also becauseit provides a relatively strong test case <strong>for</strong> the existence of masked <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong><strong>effects</strong> (be<strong>in</strong>g characterized by a substantial degree of spell<strong>in</strong>g-sound irregularity; see e.g.,Ziegler & Goswami, 2005; Ziegler, Perry, & Coltheart, 2003 <strong>for</strong> discussion). To meet ourempirical aim, we first conduct a meta-analytic literature review that describes the precise<strong>effects</strong> obta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> every published study <strong>in</strong>vestigat<strong>in</strong>g masked <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>in</strong><strong>English</strong>. From this review, we establish the magnitude, effect size, and variability of masked<strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong> phenomena across various tasks, and identify possible methodologicalproblems with<strong>in</strong> relevant studies that may limit their persuasiveness. We follow thisreview by conduct<strong>in</strong>g two new masked <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong> experiments, which addressthe methodological concerns unearthed <strong>in</strong> our literature review.The second aim of this article is to contribute to a fuller understand<strong>in</strong>g of the theoreticalimplications of masked <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>effects</strong> than has so far been possible. Ourapproach is similar to that advocated by Frost (1998): to evaluate the weak <strong>phonological</strong>perspective on visual word recognition <strong>in</strong> the context of masked <strong>phonological</strong> <strong>prim<strong>in</strong>g</strong><strong>effects</strong>. For several reasons, we chose the weak <strong>phonological</strong> theory of visual word recognitionimplemented as the DRC model (Coltheart et al., 2001) as an excellent candidate <strong>for</strong>evaluation. In our view, this computational model provides a particularly good target <strong>for</strong>