title: Symbol-string sensitivity and adult performance in lexical decision.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: University of Newcastle, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pammer
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lavis
authors.forename: Charity
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Piers L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Cornelissen
mesh_terms: 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