Can Interactive Activation Models Accommodate Neighborhood Distribution Effects in Visual Word Recognition
Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: The effects of neighborhood distributions on word recognition were investigated by manipulating the position of the highest frequency neighbor.In the Twin condition, a word had two higher frequency neighbors with a letter change in the same position.In the Single condition a word also had two higher frequency neighbors, but the letter change was made in a different position for each neighbor.The letter position involved could be internal or external, depending on whether the change took place in an intermediate or start/end position.Participants made lexical decisions about postmasked letter strings, while response times and evokedrelated potentials were recorded.Results show a significant effect of the Single vs Twin manipulation with Twin targets RTs slower than Single RTs.Furthermore, ERP data reveal that in the parietal area of both hemispheres, words with Twin targets result in less brain activity than words with Single targets, specifically in later decisional stages (P400).An analysis by position reveals how this Twin / Single contrast stems from the effects of interaction between the type of distribution (Twin / Single) and the position of the highest frequency neighbor (Internal / External).The results obtained are not easily reconciled with a theoretical framework that proposes a "Gang Effect" as part of a model including intralexical inhibition mechanisms (McClelland & Rumelhart, 1981;Grainger & Jacobs, 1996).
Institution: Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W34093362