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Strategic reliance on phonological mediation in lexical access
V C Milota1, A A Widau, M R McMickell
1Department of Counseling Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence 66045-2336, USA.
Memory & Cognition
|May 1, 1997
Summary
This study shows that using phonological information in visual word recognition is strategic. Reliance on phonological mediation varies based on task demands and processing time.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psycholinguistics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Visual word recognition involves accessing word meaning and form.
- Phonological mediation, using sound-based information, plays a role in this process.
- The strategic use of phonological mediation may vary depending on task demands.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate strategic variations in reliance on phonological mediation during visual word recognition.
- To examine how semantic priming interacts with phonological processing of words, pseudohomophones, and nonpseudohomophones.
- To determine the temporal dynamics of phonological mediation in lexical access.
Main Methods:
- A lexical decision task was employed across three experiments.
- Stimuli included word, pseudohomophone, and nonpseudohomophone targets.
- Semantically related and unrelated word primes were used with varying stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs).
Main Results:
- Semantic priming effects were observed for words.
- Pseudohomophone recognition was slower when preceded by related primes, suggesting phonological mediation.
- This effect diminished at longer SOAs and was absent when orthographic controls replaced pseudohomophones.
- Facilitation for related target words was greater with orthographic controls than pseudohomophones.
Conclusions:
- Reliance on phonological mediation in visual word recognition appears to be strategically contingent.
- Phonologically mediated lexical access may occur automatically but briefly.
- Subsequent maintenance or suppression of phonological information depends on its task utility.
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