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R34D1NG W0RD5 W1TH NUMB3R5
Manuel Perea1, Jon Andoni Duñabeitia, Manuel Carreiras
1Departamento de Metodología, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain. mperea@valencia.edu
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|February 6, 2008
Summary
Reading words with numbers as letters (leet digits) is easy. Experiments show this number-letter substitution activates word recognition automatically, similar to regular letters.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Neuroscience
- Computational linguistics
Background:
- Letter and number processing are typically associated with distinct neural pathways.
- The left fusiform gyrus shows differential activation for letters versus digits.
- The internet phenomenon of 'leet speak' (e.g., 4ND TH3 R35ULT1NG S3NT3NC3) suggests numbers can substitute for letters in words.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether leet digits trigger automatic lexical activation.
- To determine if number-to-letter substitutions in words affect word recognition.
- To explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying the processing of leet speak.
Main Methods:
- Two masked priming lexical decision experiments were employed.
- Participants performed lexical decisions on target words preceded by masked primes.
- Primes included leet words (e.g., M4T3R14L), control words, and symbol-substituted words.
Main Results:
- Words preceded by leet words were identified significantly faster than control words.
- The leet-priming effect was comparable to letter-priming effects.
- Replacing leet digits with letter-like symbols yielded similar priming effects, indicating shape regularization.
Conclusions:
- The cognitive system automatically processes and regularizes number-to-letter substitutions (leet digits) within words.
- Lexical activation occurs even when visual forms deviate from standard orthography.
- This suggests a flexible and robust word recognition system that accommodates visual variations with minimal processing cost.
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