Symbol-string sensitivity and adult performance in lexical decision.
In this study of adult readers, we used a symbol-string task to assess participants' sensitivity to the position of briefly presented, non-alphabetic but letter-like symbols. We found that sensitivity in this task explained a significant proportion of sample variance in visual lexical decision. Based on a number of controls, we show that this relationship cannot be explained by other factors including: chronological age, intelligence, speed of processing and/or concentration, short term memory consolidation, or fixation stability. This approach represents a new way to elucidate how, and to what extent, individual variation in pre-orthographic visual and cognitive processes impinge on reading skills, and the results suggest that limitations set by visuo-spatial processes constrain visual word recognition.
Pammer
Kristen
K
University of Newcastle, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK.
Lavis
Ruth
R
Cooper
Charity
C
Hansen
Peter C
PC
Cornelissen
Piers L
PL
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013561:Symbolism