Cross-modality word matching in letter-by-letter readers

Letter-by-letter readers can match spoken words to printed words they cannot read. Good word-matching ability may be attributable to a priming effect. However, since letter-by-letter readers have intact spelling ability, an alternative hypothesis is that word matching depends on a strategy of scanning printed words for recognizable letters known to be in the target items. In the present study, experimental manipulations that taxed the ability of the two subjects to process key letters (those that distinguished target words from foils) or scan for them caused a decline in word-matching performance. Thus, letter-by-letter readers may rely on sequential letter processing to accomplish cross-modality word matching.