1
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Massol S, Grainger J. On the distinction between position and order information when processing strings of characters. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024; 86:883-896. [PMID: 38453776 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02872-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
To probe the processing of gaze-dependent positional information and gaze-independent order information when matching strings of characters, we compared effects of visual similarity (hypothesized to affect gaze-centered position coding) with the effects of character transpositions (hypothesized to affect the processing of gaze-independent order information). In Experiment 1, we obtained empirical measures of visual similarity for pairs of characters, separately for uppercase consonants and keyboard symbols. These similarity values were then used in Experiment 2 to create pairs of four-character stimuli (four letters or four symbols) that could differ by substituting one character with a different character from the same category that was visually similar (e.g., FJDK-FJBK) or dissimilar (e.g., FJVK-FJBK). We also compared the effects of transposing two characters (e.g., FBJK-FJBK) with substituting two characters (e.g., FHSK-FJBK). "Different" responses were harder to make in the single substitution condition when the substituted character was visually similar, and this effect was not conditioned by character type. On the other hand, transposition costs (i.e., greater difficulty in detecting a difference with transpositions compared with double substitutions) were greater for letters compared with symbols. We conclude that visual similarity mainly affects the generic gaze-dependent processing of complex visual features, and that the encoding of letter order involves a mechanism that is specific to reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stéphanie Massol
- Laboratoire d'Étude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, France.
| | - Jonathan Grainger
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille University & CNRS, Marseille, France
- Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
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2
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Leopold DR, Kim H, Carlson KW, Rowe MA, Groff BR, Major MP, Willcutt EG, Cutting LE, Banich MT. Stimulus shapes strategy: Effects of stimulus characteristics and individual differences in academic achievement on the neural mechanisms engaged during the N-back task. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 66:101372. [PMID: 38593494 PMCID: PMC11015100 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024] Open
Abstract
This fMRI study of 126 youth explored whether the neural mechanisms underlying the N-back task, commonly used to examine executive control over the contents of working memory, are associated with individual differences in academic achievement in reading and math. Moreover, the study explored whether these relationships occur regardless of the nature of the stimulus being manipulated in working memory (letters, numbers, nonsense shapes) or whether these relationships are specific to achievement domain and stimulus type (i.e., letters for reading and numbers for math). The results indicated that higher academic achievement in each of reading and math was associated with greater activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the N-back task regardless of stimulus type (i.e., did not differ for letters and numbers), suggesting that at least some aspects of the neural mechanisms underlying these academic domains are executive in nature. In addition, regardless of level of academic achievement, prefrontal regions were engaged to a greater degree for letters than numbers than nonsense shapes. In contrast, nonsense shapes yielded greater hippocampal activation than letters and numbers. Potential reasons for this pattern of findings are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel R Leopold
- University of Colorado Boulder, Institute of Cognitive Science, USA
| | - Hyojeong Kim
- University of Colorado Boulder, Institute of Cognitive Science, USA
| | | | - Mikaela A Rowe
- University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, USA
| | - Boman R Groff
- University of Colorado Boulder, Institute of Cognitive Science, USA; University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, USA
| | - Moriah P Major
- University of Colorado Boulder, Institute of Cognitive Science, USA
| | - Erik G Willcutt
- University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, USA; University of Colorado Boulder, Institute for Behavioral Genetics, USA
| | - Laurie E Cutting
- Vanderbilt University, Peabody College of Human Development, USA
| | - Marie T Banich
- University of Colorado Boulder, Institute of Cognitive Science, USA; University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, USA.
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3
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Sabatier E, Leybaert J, Chetail F. Orthographic Learning in French-Speaking Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:870-885. [PMID: 38394239 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE Children are assumed to acquire orthographic representations during autonomous reading by decoding new written words. The present study investigates how deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children build new orthographic representations compared to typically hearing (TH) children. METHOD Twenty-nine DHH children, from 7.8 to 13.5 years old, with moderate-to-profound hearing loss, matched for reading level and chronological age to TH controls, were exposed to 10 pseudowords (novel words) in written stories. Then, they performed a spelling task and an orthographic recognition task on these new words. RESULTS In the spelling task, we found no difference in accuracy, but a difference in errors emerged between the two groups: Phonologically plausible errors were less common in DHH children than in TH children. In the recognition task, DHH children were better than TH children at recognizing target pseudowords. Phonological strategies seemed to be used less by DHH than by TH children who very often chose phonological distractors. CONCLUSIONS Both groups created sufficiently detailed orthographic representations to complete the tasks, which support the self-teaching hypothesis. DHH children used phonological information in both tasks but could use more orthographic cues than TH children to build up orthographic representations. Using the combination of a spelling task and a recognition task, as well as analyzing the nature of errors, in this study, provides a methodological implication for further understanding of underlying cognitive processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elodie Sabatier
- Laboratoire Cognition Langage et Développement, Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Jacqueline Leybaert
- Laboratoire Cognition Langage et Développement, Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Fabienne Chetail
- Laboratoire Cognition Langage et Développement, Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
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4
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Perea M, Labusch M, Fernández-López M, Marcet A, Gutierrez-Sigut E, Gómez P. One more trip to Barcetona: on the special status of visual similarity effects in city names. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:271-283. [PMID: 37353613 PMCID: PMC10805876 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01839-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has shown that, unlike misspelled common words, misspelled brand names are sensitive to visual letter similarity effects (e.g., amazom is often recognized as a legitimate brand name, but not amazot). This pattern poses problems for those models that assume that word identification is exclusively based on abstract codes. Here, we investigated the role of visual letter similarity using another type of word often presented in a more homogenous format than common words: city names. We found a visual letter similarity effect for misspelled city names (e.g., Barcetona was often recognized as a word, but not Barcesona) for relatively short durations of the stimuli (200 ms; Experiment 2), but not when the stimuli were presented until response (Experiment 1). Notably, misspelled common words did not show a visual letter similarity effect for brief 200- and 150-ms durations (e.g., votume was not as often recognized as a word than vosume; Experiments 3-4). These findings provide further evidence that the consistency in the format of presentations may shape the representation of words in the mental lexicon, which may be more salient in scenarios where processing resources are limited (e.g., brief exposure presentations).
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Perea
- Universitat de València, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, 46010, Valencia, Spain.
- Centro de Investigación Nebrija en Cognición, Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Melanie Labusch
- Universitat de València, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, 46010, Valencia, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Nebrija en Cognición, Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Ana Marcet
- Universitat de València, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, 46010, Valencia, Spain
| | | | - Pablo Gómez
- California State University, San Bernardino, Palm Desert Campus, San Bernardino, USA
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5
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Taylor JE, Rousselet GA, Scheepers C, Sereno SC. Rating norms should be calculated from cumulative link mixed effects models. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:2175-2196. [PMID: 36103049 PMCID: PMC10439063 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01814-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Studies which provide norms of Likert ratings typically report per-item summary statistics. Traditionally, these summary statistics comprise the mean and the standard deviation (SD) of the ratings, and the number of observations. Such summary statistics can preserve the rank order of items, but provide distorted estimates of the relative distances between items because of the ordinal nature of Likert ratings. Inter-item relations in such ordinal scales can be more appropriately modelled by cumulative link mixed effects models (CLMMs). In a series of simulations, and with a reanalysis of an existing rating norms dataset, we show that CLMMs can be used to more accurately norm items, and can provide summary statistics analogous to the traditionally reported means and SDs, but which are disentangled from participants' response biases. CLMMs can be applied to solve important statistical issues that exist for more traditional analyses of rating norms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jack E Taylor
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, UK.
| | - Guillaume A Rousselet
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, UK
| | - Christoph Scheepers
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, UK
| | - Sara C Sereno
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, UK.
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6
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Dujardin E, Mathey S. The neighbourhood frequency effect in naming is influenced by substituted-letter confusability and lexical skills. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2022.2099873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Emilie Dujardin
- Université de Bordeaux, Laboratoire de Psychologie, Bordeaux Cedex, France
- Laboratoire EMC, Université Lyon 2, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Stéphanie Mathey
- Université de Bordeaux, Laboratoire de Psychologie, Bordeaux Cedex, France
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7
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The relationships between reading fluency and different measures of holistic word processing. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 84:1734-1756. [PMID: 35556234 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02497-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recently, paradigms in the face recognition literature have been adopted to reveal holistic processing in word recognition. It is unknown, however, whether different measures of holistic word processing share similar underlying mechanisms, and whether fluent word reading relies on holistic word processing. We measured holistic processing effects in three paradigms (composite, configural sensitivity, part-whole) as well as in reading fluency (3DM task: reading aloud high- and low-frequency words and pseudowords). Bin scores were used to combine accuracy and response time variables in the quest for a more comprehensive, reliable, and valid measure of holistic processing. Weak correlations were found between the different holistic processing measures, with only a significant correlation between the configural sensitivity effect and part-whole effect (r = .32) and a trend of a positive correlation between the word composite effect and configural sensitivity effect (r = .21). Of the three holistic processing measures, only one (part-whole effect) correlated with a lexical access measure of 3DM (r = .23). We also performed a principal component analysis (PCA) of performance in the three lists of 3DM, with the second most probably reflecting lexical access processes. There was a tendency for a positive correlation between part-whole bin measure and Component 2 of PCA. We also found a positive correlation between composite aligned in accuracy and Component 2 of PCA.Our results show that different measures of holistic word processing reflect predominantly different mechanisms, and that differences among normal readers in word reading do not seem to depend highly on holistic processing.
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8
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Lally C, Rastle K. EXPRESS: Orthographic and feature-level contributions to letter identification. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2022; 76:1111-1119. [PMID: 35619235 PMCID: PMC10119894 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221106155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Word recognition is facilitated by primes containing visually similar letters (dentjst-dentist, Marcet & Perea, 2017), suggesting that letter identities are encoded with initial uncertainty. Orthographic knowledge also guides letter identification, as readers are more accurate at identifying letters in words compared to pseudowords (Reicher, 1969; Wheeler, 1970). We investigated how higher-level orthographic knowledge and low-level visual feature analysis operate in combination during letter identification. We conducted a Reicher-Wheeler task to compare readers' ability to discriminate between visually similar and dissimilar letters across different orthographic contexts (words, pseudowords, and consonant strings). Orthographic context and visual similarity had independent effects on letter identification, and there was no interaction between these factors. The magnitude of these effects indicated that higher-level orthographic information plays a greater role than lower-level visual feature information in letter identification. We propose that readers use orthographic knowledge to refine potential letter candidates while visual feature information is accumulated. This combination of higher-level knowledge and low-level feature analysis may be essential in permitting the flexibility required to identify visual variations of the same letter (e.g. N-n) whilst maintaining enough precision to tell visually similar letters apart (e.g. n-h). These results provide new insights on the integration of visual and linguistic information and highlight the need for greater integration between models of reading and visual processing. This study was pre-registered on the Open Science Framework. Pre-registration, stimuli, instructions, trial-level data, and analysis scripts are openly available (https://osf.io/p4q9u/).
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare Lally
- Royal Holloway, University of London.,University College London 4919
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9
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Perea M, Baciero A, Labusch M, Fernández-López M, Marcet A. Are brand names special words? Letter visual-similarity affects the identification of brand names, but not common words. Br J Psychol 2022; 113:835-852. [PMID: 35107840 PMCID: PMC9545185 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Revised: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Brand names are often considered a special type of words of special relevance to examine the role of visual codes during reading: unlike common words, brand names are typically presented with the same letter‐case configuration (e.g., IKEA, adidas). Recently, Pathak et al. (European Journal of Marketing, 2019, 53, 2109) found an effect of visual similarity for misspelled brand names when the participants had to decide whether the brand name was spelled correctly or not (e.g., tacebook [baseword: facebook] was responded more slowly and less accurately than xacebook). This finding is at odds with both orthographically based visual‐word recognition models and prior experiments using misspelled common words (e.g., viotin [baseword: violin] is identified as fast as viocin). To solve this puzzle, we designed two experiments in which the participants had to decide whether the presented item was written correctly. In Experiment 1, following a procedure similar to Pathak et al. (European Journal of Marketing, 2019, 53, 2109), we examined the effect of visual similarity on misspelled brand names with/without graphical information (e.g., anazon vs. atazon [baseword: amazon]). Experiment 2 was parallel to Experiment 1, but we focused on misspelled common words (e.g., anarillo vs. atarillo; baseword: amarillo [yellow in Spanish]). Results showed a sizeable effect of visual similarity on misspelled brand names – regardless of their graphical information, but not on misspelled common words. These findings suggest that visual codes play a greater role when identifying brand names than common words. We examined how models of visual‐word recognition can account for this dissociation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Perea
- Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.,Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ana Baciero
- Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid, Spain.,Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK
| | | | | | - Ana Marcet
- Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
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10
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Kim H. A k-mismatch string matching for generalized edit distance using diagonal skipping method. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0251047. [PMID: 33945564 PMCID: PMC8096107 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper proposes an approximate string matching with k-mismatches when calculating the generalized edit distance. When the edit distance is generalized, more sophisticated string matching can be provided. However, the execution time increases because of the bundle of complex computations for calculating complicated edit distances. The computational costs for finding which steps or edit distances are over k-mismatches cannot be significant in the generalized edit distance metric. Therefore, we can reduce the execution time by determining steps over k-mismatches and then skipping them. The diagonal step calculations using the pruning register skips unnecessary distance calculations over k-mismatches. The overhead of control statements and reordered memory accesses can be amortized by skipping multiple steps. Even though the proposed skipping method requires additional overhead, the proposed scheme’s practical embodiments show that the execution time of string matching is reduced significantly when k is small.
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Affiliation(s)
- HyunJin Kim
- School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Dankook University, Yongin, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea
- * E-mail:
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11
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Letter identity and visual similarity in the processing of diacritic letters. Mem Cognit 2021; 49:815-825. [PMID: 33469882 PMCID: PMC7614445 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-020-01125-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Are letters with a diacritic (e.g., â) recognized as a variant of the base letter (e.g., a), or as a separate letter identity? Two recent masked priming studies, one in French and one in Spanish, investigated this question, concluding that this depends on the language-specific linguistic function served by the diacritic. Experiment 1 tested this linguistic function hypothesis using Japanese kana, in which diacritics signal consonant voicing, and like French and unlike Spanish, provide lexical contrast. Contrary to the hypothesis, Japanese kana yielded the pattern of diacritic priming like Spanish. Specifically, for a target kana with a diacritic (e.g., ガ, /ga/), the kana prime without the diacritic (e.g., カ, /ka/) facilitated recognition almost as much as the identity prime (e.g., ガ-ガ = カ-ガ), whereas for a target kana without a diacritic, the kana prime with the diacritic produced less facilitation than the identity prime (e.g., カ-カ < ガ-カ). We suggest that the pattern of diacritic priming has little to do with linguistic function, and instead it stems from a general property of visual object recognition. Experiment 2 tested this hypothesis using visually similar letters of the Latin alphabet that differ in the presence/absence of a visual feature (e.g., O and Q). The same asymmetry in priming was observed. These findings are consistent with the noisy channel model of letter/word recognition (Norris & Kinoshita, Psychological Review, 119, 517-545, 2012a).
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12
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Abstract
Indicators of letter frequency and similarity have long been available for Indo-European languages. They have not only been pivotal in controlling the design of experimental psycholinguistic studies seeking to determine the factors that underlie reading ability and literacy acquisition, but have also been useful for studies examining the more general aspects of human cognition. Despite their importance, however, such indicators are still not available for Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), a language that, by virtue of its orthographic system, presents an invaluable environment for the experimental investigation of visual word processing. This paper presents for the first time the frequencies of Arabic letters and their allographs based on a 40-million-word corpus, along with their similarity/confusability indicators in three domains: (1) the visual domain, based on human ratings; (2) the auditory domain, based on an analysis of the phonetic features of letter sounds; and (3) the motoric domain, based on an analysis of the stroke features used to write letters and their allographs. Taken together, the frequency and similarity of Arabic letters and their allographs in the visual and motoric domains, as well as the similarities among the letter sounds, will be useful for researchers interested in the processes underpinning orthographic processing, visual word recognition, reading, and literacy acquisition.
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13
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Kim YSG, Petscher Y, Treiman R, Kelcey B. Letter Features as Predictors of Letter-Name Acquisition in Four Languages with Three Scripts. SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF READING : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF READING 2020; 25:453-469. [PMID: 35002210 PMCID: PMC8734658 DOI: 10.1080/10888438.2020.1830406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
To expand our understanding of script-general and script-specific principles in the learning of letter names, we examined how three characteristics of alphabet letters-their frequency in printed materials, order in the alphabet, and visual similarity to other letters-relate to children's letter-name knowledge in four languages with three distinct scripts (English [N = 318; M age = 4.90], Portuguese [N = 366; M age = 5.80], Korean [N = 168; M age = 5.48], and Hebrew [N = 645; M age = 5.42]). Explanatory item response modeling analysis showed that the frequency of letters in printed materials was consistently related to letter difficulty across the four languages. There were also moderation effects for letter difficulty in English and Korean, and for discriminatory power of letters in Korean. The results suggest that exposure to letters as measured by letter frequency is a language-general mechanism in the learning of alphabet letters.
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14
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Does a mark make a difference? Visual similarity effects with accented vowels. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 85:2279-2290. [PMID: 32870370 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01405-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 08/06/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Visual similarity effects are pervasive in masked priming (e.g., T4BLE→TABLE; obiect→OBJECT; docurnent→DOCUMENT) and can be easily explained in terms of uncertainty regarding letter identity. However, recent research failed to show visual similarity effects for primes containing accented vowels (e.g., féliz-FELIZ behaves as fáliz-FELIZ [happy in Spanish]). This null effect has been taken to suggest that accented and non-accented vowels (e.g., é and e) activate completely distinct representations. However, priming effects are reinstated for non-accented vowels (e.g., facil-FÁCIL < fecil-FÁCIL [easy in Spanish]). Here we tested the hypothesis that the lack of priming effects for primes containing accented vowels is a simple consequence of the saliency of the accent marks. To investigate this issue, we conducted a masked priming lexical decision experiment in which we minimized the saliency of the diacritical marks by using primes containing the letter i (i.e., a letter that contains itself a glyph over the letter). We manipulated prime-target visual similarity and the presence/absence of an accented vowel in the prime (e.g., obieto-OBJETO vs. obaeto-OBJETO; obíeto-OBJETO vs. obáeto-OBJETO [object in Spanish]). Results showed a sizeable visual similarity effect regardless of whether the prime was accented or not. Therefore, these findings suggest that, at least in scripts like Spanish, there is nothing special about the processing of accented vs. unaccented vowels once the saliency of the diacritical marks is reduced.
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Abstract
For many years, the working/short-term memory literature has been dominated by the study of phonological codes. Consequently, insufficient attention has been devoted to visual codes. In the present study, we attempt to remedy the situation by exploring a critical aspect of modern models of working memory, namely the principle that responses do not depend primarily on what kinds of materials are presented, but on what kinds of codes are generated from those materials. More specifically, we used the visual similarity effect as a tool to ask whether there is a generation of visual codes when information is not presented visually. In two immediate serial recall experiments, we manipulated the visual similarity (similar words, dissimilar words), the presentation modality (visual presentation, auditory presentation), and concurrent articulation (none, concurrent articulation). We observed a visual similarity effect independent of presentation modality. Comparable results were observed with two different sets of stimuli and with or without concurrent articulation. Thus, for the first time, we demonstrate that, from acoustically presented word lists, visual codes in working/short-term memory are generated, producing a visual similarity effect. It is now clear that the encoding of visual or acoustic presentation to include the opposite type of representation is bidirectional.
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Agrawal A, Hari KVS, Arun SP. A compositional neural code in high-level visual cortex can explain jumbled word reading. eLife 2020; 9:e54846. [PMID: 32369017 PMCID: PMC7272193 DOI: 10.7554/elife.54846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We read jubmled wrods effortlessly, but the neural correlates of this remarkable ability remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that viewing a jumbled word activates a visual representation that is compared to known words. To test this hypothesis, we devised a purely visual model in which neurons tuned to letter shape respond to longer strings in a compositional manner by linearly summing letter responses. We found that dissimilarities between letter strings in this model can explain human performance on visual search, and responses to jumbled words in word reading tasks. Brain imaging revealed that viewing a string activates this letter-based code in the lateral occipital (LO) region and that subsequent comparisons to stored words are consistent with activations of the visual word form area (VWFA). Thus, a compositional neural code potentially contributes to efficient reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aakash Agrawal
- Centre for BioSystems Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of ScienceBangaloreIndia
| | - KVS Hari
- Department of Electrical Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of ScienceBangaloreIndia
| | - SP Arun
- Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of ScienceBangaloreIndia
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17
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Zoccolotti P, De Luca M, Marinelli CV, Spinelli D. Predicting individual differences in reading, spelling and maths in a sample of typically developing children: A study in the perspective of comorbidity. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0231937. [PMID: 32352985 PMCID: PMC7192483 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2019] [Accepted: 04/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined reading, spelling, and mathematical skills in an unselected group of 129 Italian fifth graders by testing various cognitive predictors for each behaviour. As dependent variables, we measured performance in behaviours with a clear functional value in everyday life, such as reading a text, spelling under dictation and doing mental and written computations. As predictors, we selected cognitive dimensions having an explicit relation with the target behaviour (called proximal predictors), and prepared various tests in order to select which task had the best predictive power on each behaviour. The aim was to develop a model of proximal predictors of reading (speed and accuracy), spelling (accuracy) and maths (speed and accuracy) characterized by efficacy also in comparison to the prediction based on general cognitive factors (i.e., short-term memory, phonemic verbal fluency, visual perceptual speed, and non-verbal intelligence) and parsimony, pinpointing the role of both common and unique predictors as envisaged in the general perspective of co-morbidity. With one exception (reading accuracy), the proximal predictors models (based on communality analyses) explained a sizeable amount of variance, ranging from 27.5% in the case of calculation (accuracy) to 48.7% of reading (fluency). Models based on general cognitive factors also accounted for some variance (ranging from 6.5% in the case of spelling to 19.5% in the case of reading fluency) but this was appreciably less than that explained by models based on the hypothesized proximal predictors. In general, results confirmed the efficacy of proximal models in predicting reading, spelling and maths although they offered only limited support for common predictors across different learning skills; namely, performance in the Orthographic Decision test entered as a predictor of both reading and spelling indicating that a single orthographic lexicon may account for performance in reading and spelling. Possible lines of research to expand on this approach are illustrated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierluigi Zoccolotti
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Maria De Luca
- Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Chiara Valeria Marinelli
- Laboratory of Applied Psychology and Intervention, Department of History, Society and Human Studies, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
| | - Donatella Spinelli
- Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, Foro Italico University of Rome, Rome, Italy
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Visual similarity effects in immediate serial recall and (sometimes) in immediate serial recognition. Mem Cognit 2019; 48:411-425. [PMID: 31701325 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-019-00979-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Words that sound dissimilar are recalled better than otherwise comparable words that sound similar on both immediate serial recall and immediate serial recognition tests, the so-called acoustic similarity effect. Although studies using immediate serial recall have shown an analogous visual similarity effect, in which words that look dissimilar are recalled better than words that look similar, this effect has not been examined in immediate serial recognition. We derived a prediction from the Feature Model that a visual similarity effect will be observed in immediate serial recognition only when the items are acoustically dissimilar; the model predicts no effect when the items are acoustically similar. Experiments 1 and 2 used visually dissimilar and visually similar stimuli that were all acoustically similar and replicated the visual similarity effect in serial recall but revealed no effect in serial recognition. Experiments 3 and 4 used a second set of stimuli that were acoustically dissimilar and found a visual similarity effect in both serial recall and serial recognition. The experiments confirm the Feature Model's predictions and add to earlier findings that the two tests, serial recall and serial recognition, may show quite different results because the two tests are not as similar as previously thought.
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Popescu M, Popescu EA, DeGraba TJ, Fernandez-Fidalgo DJ, Riedy G, Hughes JD. Post-traumatic stress disorder is associated with altered modulation of prefrontal alpha band oscillations during working memory. Clin Neurophysiol 2019; 130:1869-1881. [DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2019.06.227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2019] [Revised: 05/24/2019] [Accepted: 06/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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20
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Tracking the time course of letter visual-similarity effects during word recognition: A masked priming ERP investigation. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2019; 19:966-984. [DOI: 10.3758/s13415-019-00696-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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21
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Marcet A, Perea M. Visual letter similarity effects during sentence reading: Evidence from the boundary technique. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2018; 190:142-149. [PMID: 30119047 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2018] [Revised: 07/11/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The study of how the cognitive system encodes letter identities from the visual input has received much attention in models of visual word recognition but it has typically been overlooked in models of eye movement control in reading. Here we examined how visual letter similarity affects early word processing during reading using Rayner's (1975) boundary change technique in which the parafoveal preview of the target word was either identical (e.g., frito-frito [fried]) or a one-letter-different nonword (e.g., frjto-frito vs. frgto-frito). Critically, the substituted letter in the nonword was visually similar (based on letter confusability norms) or visually dissimilar. Results showed shorter viewing times on the target word when the parafoveal preview was visually similar than when it was visually dissimilar. Thus, visual letter similarity modulates the integration of parafoveal and foveal information during sentence reading. Future implementations of models of eye movement control in reading should incorporate a more developed orthographic-lexical module to capture these effects.
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22
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GraphCom: A multidimensional measure of graphic complexity applied to 131 written languages. Behav Res Methods 2018; 50:427-449. [PMID: 28425059 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-017-0881-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We report a new multidimensional measure of visual complexity (GraphCom) that captures variability in the complexity of graphs within and across writing systems. We applied the measure to 131 written languages, allowing comparisons of complexity and providing a basis for empirical testing of GraphCom. The measure includes four dimensions whose value in capturing the different visual properties of graphs had been demonstrated in prior reading research-(1) perimetric complexity, sensitive to the ratio of a written form to its surrounding white space (Pelli, Burns, Farell, & Moore-Page, 2006); (2) number of disconnected components, sensitive to discontinuity (Gibson, 1969); (3) number of connected points, sensitive to continuity (Lanthier, Risko, Stolz, & Besner, 2009); and (4) number of simple features, sensitive to the strokes that compose graphs (Wu, Zhou, & Shu, 1999). In our analysis of the complexity of 21,550 graphs, we (a) determined the complexity variation across writing systems along each dimension, (b) examined the relationships among complexity patterns within and across writing systems, and (c) compared the dimensions in their abilities to differentiate the graphs from different writing systems, in order to predict human perceptual judgments (n = 180) of graphs with varying complexity. The results from the computational and experimental comparisons showed that GraphCom provides a measure of graphic complexity that exceeds previous measures in its empirical validation. The measure can be universally applied across writing systems, providing a research tool for studies of reading and writing.
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Is nevtral NEUTRAL? Visual similarity effects in the early phases of written-word recognition. Psychon Bull Rev 2018; 24:1180-1185. [PMID: 27873186 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-016-1180-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
For simplicity, contemporary models of written-word recognition and reading have unspecified feature/letter levels-they predict that the visually similar substituted-letter nonword PEQPLE is as effective at activating the word PEOPLE as the visually dissimilar substituted-letter nonword PEYPLE. Previous empirical evidence on the effects of visual similarly across letters during written-word recognition is scarce and nonconclusive. To examine whether visual similarity across letters plays a role early in word processing, we conducted two masked priming lexical decision experiments (stimulus-onset asynchrony = 50 ms). The substituted-letter primes were visually very similar to the target letters (u/v in Experiment 1 and i/j in Experiment 2; e.g., nevtral-NEUTRAL). For comparison purposes, we included an identity prime condition (neutral-NEUTRAL) and a dissimilar-letter prime condition (neztral-NEUTRAL). Results showed that the similar-letter prime condition produced faster word identification times than the dissimilar-letter prime condition. We discuss how models of written-word recognition should be amended to capture visual similarity effects across letters.
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Olk B, Dinu A, Zielinski DJ, Kopper R. Measuring visual search and distraction in immersive virtual reality. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2018; 5:172331. [PMID: 29892418 PMCID: PMC5990815 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.172331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2017] [Accepted: 03/27/2018] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
An important issue of psychological research is how experiments conducted in the laboratory or theories based on such experiments relate to human performance in daily life. Immersive virtual reality (VR) allows control over stimuli and conditions at increased ecological validity. The goal of the present study was to accomplish a transfer of traditional paradigms that assess attention and distraction to immersive VR. To further increase ecological validity we explored attentional effects with daily objects as stimuli instead of simple letters. Participants searched for a target among distractors on the countertop of a virtual kitchen. Target-distractor discriminability was varied and the displays were accompanied by a peripheral flanker that was congruent or incongruent to the target. Reaction time was slower when target-distractor discriminability was low and when flankers were incongruent. The results were replicated in a second experiment in which stimuli were presented on a computer screen in two dimensions. The study demonstrates the successful translation of traditional paradigms and manipulations into immersive VR and lays a foundation for future research on attention and distraction in VR. Further, we provide an outline for future studies that should use features of VR that are not available in traditional laboratory research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bettina Olk
- Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany
- HSD University of Applied Sciences, Waidmarkt 3 and 9, 50676 Cologne, Germany
| | - Alina Dinu
- Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, 20251 Hamburg, Germany
| | - David J. Zielinski
- Duke University, Pratt School of Engineering, FCiemas Building, 101 Science Dr., Durham, NC 27708-0271, USA
| | - Regis Kopper
- Duke University, Pratt School of Engineering, FCiemas Building, 101 Science Dr., Durham, NC 27708-0271, USA
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25
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Letter perception emerges from unsupervised deep learning and recycling of natural image features. Nat Hum Behav 2017; 1:657-664. [DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0186-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2016] [Accepted: 07/21/2017] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
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26
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Rothlein D, Rapp B. The role of allograph representations in font-invariant letter identification. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2017; 43:1411-1429. [PMID: 28368166 PMCID: PMC5481478 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The literate brain must contend with countless font variants for any given letter. How does the visual system handle such variability? One proposed solution posits stored structural descriptions of basic letter shapes that are abstract enough to deal with the many possible font variations of each letter. These font-invariant representations, referred to as allographs in this paper, while frequently posited, have seldom been empirically evaluated. The research reported here helps to address this gap with 2 experiments that examine the possible influence of allograph representations on visual letter processing. In these experiments, participants respond to pairs of letters presented in an atypical font in 2 tasks-visual similarity judgments (Experiment 1) and same/different decisions (Experiment 2). By using representational similarity analysis (RSA) in conjunction with linear mixed effect models (LMEM; RSA-LMEM) we show that the similarity structure of the responses to the atypical font is influenced by the predicted similarity structure of allograph representations even after accounting for font-specific visual shape similarity. Similarity due to symbolic (abstract) identity, name, and motor representations of letters are also taken into account providing compelling evidence for the unique influence of allograph representations in these tasks. These results provide support for the role of allograph representations in achieving font-invariant letter identification. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
- David Rothlein
- Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston Massachusetts
| | - Brenda Rapp
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD 21218, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD 21218, USA
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD 21218, USA
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27
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BACS: The Brussels Artificial Character Sets for studies in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Behav Res Methods 2017; 49:2093-2112. [DOI: 10.3758/s13428-016-0844-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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28
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Wiley RW, Wilson C, Rapp B. The effects of alphabet and expertise on letter perception. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2016; 42:1186-203. [PMID: 26913778 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Long-standing questions in human perception concern the nature of the visual features that underlie letter recognition and the extent to which the visual processing of letters is affected by differences in alphabets and levels of viewer expertise. We examined these issues in a novel approach using a same-different judgment task on pairs of letters from the Arabic alphabet with 2 participant groups: 1 with no prior exposure to Arabic and 1 with reading proficiency. Hierarchical clustering and linear mixed-effects modeling of reaction times and accuracy provide evidence that both the specific characteristics of the alphabet and observers' previous experience with it affect how letters are perceived and visually processed. The findings of this research further our understanding of the multiple factors that affect letter perception and support the view of a visual system that dynamically adjusts its weighting of visual features as expert readers come to more efficiently and effectively discriminate the letters of the specific alphabet they are viewing. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert W Wiley
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University
| | - Colin Wilson
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University
| | - Brenda Rapp
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University
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29
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Perea M, Mallouh RA, Carreiras M. Early access to abstract representations in developing readers: evidence from masked priming. Dev Sci 2013; 16:564-73. [PMID: 23786474 PMCID: PMC3832781 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2012] [Accepted: 12/21/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
A commonly shared assumption in the field of visual-word recognition is that retinotopic representations are rapidly converted into abstract representations. Here we examine the role of visual form vs. abstract representations during the early stages of word processing - as measured by masked priming - in young children (3rd and 6th Graders) and adult readers. To maximize the chances of detecting an effect of visual form, we employed a language with a very intricate orthography, Arabic. If visual form plays a role in the early stages of processing, greater benefit would be expected from related primes that have the same visual form (in terms of the ligation pattern between a word's letters) as the target word (e.g.- [ktz b-ktA b] - note that the three initial letters are connected in prime and target) than for those that do not (- [ktxb-ktA b]). Results showed that the magnitude of priming effect relative to an unrelated condition (e.g. -) was remarkably similar for both types of prime. Thus, despite the visual complexity of Arabic orthography, there is fast access to the abstract letter representations not only in adult readers by also in developing readers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Perea
- ERI Lectura and Departamento de Metodología, Universitat de València, Spain.
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