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Prelexical phonological coding of visual words in Dutch: automatic after all
1Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium. marc.brysbaert@rug.ac.be
Memory & Cognition
|September 4, 2001
Summary
Prelexical phonology is not optional in Dutch visual word recognition. Masked priming experiments revealed a pseudohomophone effect, contradicting previous claims and showing masked priming is more effective than backward masking.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Psychology
- Phonology
Background:
- Previous research suggested prelexical phonology use in visual word recognition is optional in Dutch.
- The role of phonological processing in early stages of word recognition remains a key debate.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of prelexical phonology in Dutch visual word recognition.
- To re-evaluate the claim that phonological processing is optional.
Main Methods:
- One backward masking experiment and two masked priming experiments were conducted.
- The perceptual identification task used pseudohomophones, graphemic controls, and unrelated controls as masks or primes.
Main Results:
- The pseudohomophone effect was observed, indicating prelexical phonology is not optional in Dutch.
- The effect was more pronounced using masked priming compared to backward masking.
Conclusions:
- Prelexical phonological processing is a necessary component of visual word recognition in Dutch.
- Masked priming is a more sensitive method for detecting phonological effects than backward masking.