Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Group Design

Group Design

The most basic experimental design involves two groups: the experimental group and the control group. The two groups are designed to be the same except for one difference— experimental manipulation. The experimental group gets the experimental manipulation—that is, the treatment or variable being tested—and the control group does not. Since experimental manipulation is the only difference between the experimental and control groups, we can be sure that any differences between the two are due to...

Framing Effects

Framing Effects

Information is everywhere and its presentation—such as how and when items are presented—can impact our perceptions and decisions surrounding the info. This broad concept umbrellas framing effects—influences that occur due to the way information is framed in its appearance, whether it’s purely the order or the specific wording of a message. Let’s take a look at numerous ways in which two versions of something can objectively say the same thing, yet we respond in different ways based on the...

Directional Terms

Directional Terms

Directional terms are essential for describing the relative locations of different body structures. For instance, an anatomist might describe one band of tissue as "inferior to" another, or a physician might describe a tumor as "superficial to" a deeper body structure. These terms often use comparative terms in pairs to trace out the relative locations of one body part to another or descriptions of body tissues like the deeper ones from superficially present with reference to the body's upright...

Components of Language

Components of Language

Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs. “eh”). Phonemes combine to...

Language Development

Language Development

Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...

Language and Cognition

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Astrocyte-derived kynurenic acid modulates basal and evoked cortical acetylcholine release.

The European journal of neuroscience·2009

Same author

The activation of phonology during silent Chinese word reading.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·1999

Same author

Two attentional deficits in serial target search: the visual attentional blink and an amodal task-switch deficit.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·1998

Same author

A two-stage model for multiple target detection in rapid serial visual presentation.

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance·1995

Same author

Very short-term conceptual memory.

Memory & cognition·1993

Same author

Visual and phonological codes in repetition blindness.

Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance·1992

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension

Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension

Published on: January 10, 2014

Word selection in reading sentences: preceding versus following contexts

M C Potter¹, D Stiefbold, A Moryadas

¹Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA. molly@psyche.mit.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition

|January 24, 1998

Summary

Researchers developed a double-word selection task to study lexical ambiguity during rapid sentence reading. Participants accurately chose the correct word, supporting a two-stage model of word perception.

More Related Videos

Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading

Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading

Published on: October 18, 2018

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Published on: September 5, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension

Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension

Published on: January 10, 2014

Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading

Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading

Published on: October 18, 2018

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Published on: September 5, 2019

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Psycholinguistics
Human Information Processing

Background:

Lexical ambiguity resolution is crucial for sentence comprehension.
Previous models of word perception did not fully account for dynamic selection processes.
Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) offers a method to study immediate processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce and validate a novel "double-word selection" task.
To investigate how readers resolve lexical ambiguity under time constraints.
To test the predictions of a two-stage modular interactive model of word perception.

Main Methods:

Utilized rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) to display sentences at speeds of 133 or 150 ms/word.
Presented ambiguous "double-word" pairs for durations under 100 ms.
Assessed immediate sentence recall and word reporting accuracy across varied contextual delays.

Main Results:

Participants demonstrated high accuracy in selecting the correct word in the double-word pair, especially when context preceded the ambiguity.
Contextual information, even when delayed, aided in disambiguation.
Both words in the ambiguous pair were often recalled when processing was halted shortly after.

Conclusions:

The double-word selection task effectively simulates lexical ambiguity during reading.
Findings support and extend the two-stage modular interactive model to include word selection and disambiguation.
The model accurately predicts human performance in resolving lexical ambiguity in rapid sentence processing.