Visual word recognition without central attention: evidence for greater automaticity with greater reading ability

The present study examined individual differences in the automaticity of visual word recognition. Specifically, we examined whether people can recognize words while central attention is devoted to another task and how this ability depends on reading skill. A lexical-decision Task 2 was combined with either an auditory or visual Task 1. Regardless of the Task 1 modality, Task 2 word recognition proceeded in parallel with Task 1 central operations for individuals with high Nelson-Denny reading scores, but not for individuals with low reading scores. We conclude that greater lexical skill leads to greater automaticity, allowing better readers to more efficiently perform lexical processes in parallel with other attention-demanding tasks.