Correction to Nilsen and Bourassa (2008).

Reports an error in "Word-learning performance in beginning readers" by Elizabeth Nilsen and Derrick Bourassa (Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 2008[Jun], Vol 62[2], 110-116). In the article, "Word-Learning Performance in Beginning Readers" by Elizabeth Nilsen and Derrick Bourassa (Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2008, Vol. 62, No. 2, pp. 110-116), part of the Appendix was inadvertently left out. The Appendix appears in this correction in its entirety. The printer regrets this error. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-06986-004.) This investigation examined word-learning performance in beginning readers. The children learned to read words with regular spelling-sound mappings (e.g., snake) more easily than words with irregular spelling-sound mappings (e.g., sword). In addition, there was an effect of semantics: Children learned to read concrete words (e.g., elbow) more successfully than abstract words (e.g., temper). Trial-by-trial learning indicated that children made greater use of the regularity and semantic properties at later trials as compared with early trials. The influence of cognitive skills (paired associate learning and phonological awareness) on word-learning performance was also examined. Regression analyses revealed that whereas paired associate learning skills accounted for unique variance in the children's learning of both regular and irregular words, phonological awareness accounted for unique variance only in the acquisition of regular words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When benefits outweigh costs: Reconsidering “automatic” phonological recoding when reading aloud.

Skilled readers are slower to read aloud exception words (e.g., PINT) than regular words (e.g., MINT). In the case of exception words, sublexical knowledge competes with the correct pronunciation driven by lexical knowledge, whereas no such competition occurs for regular words. The dominant view is that the cost of this “regularity” effect is evidence that sublexical spelling-sound conversion is impossible to prevent (i.e., is “automatic”). This view has become so reified that the field rarely questions it. However, the results of simulations from the most successful computational models on the table suggest that the claim of “automatic” sublexical phonological recoding is premature given that there is also a benefit conferred by sublexical processing. Taken together with evidence from skilled readers that sublexical phonological recoding can be stopped, we suggest that the field is too narrowly focused when it asserts that sublexical phonological recoding is “automatic” and that a broader, more nuanced and contextually driven approach provides a more useful framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

"What is learned during automatization? The role of attention in constructing an instance": Correction to Logan and Etherton.

Reports an error in "What is learned during automatization? The role of attention in constructing an instance" by Gordon D. Logan and Joseph L. Etherton (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1994[Sep], Vol 20[5], 1022-1050). In the aforementioned article, the Appendix on page 1050 was incomplete. The complete Appendix is presented in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1995-04305-001.) Seven experiments with 372 Ss were conducted to examine the role of attention in automatization. Ss searched 2-word displays for members of a target category in divided-attention, focused-attention, and dual-task conditions. The main issue was whether attention conditions would affect what Ss learned about co-occurrences of the words in the displays. The attention hypothesis, derived from the instance theory of automaticity, predicts learning of co-occurrences in divided-attention and dual-task conditions in which Ss attend to both words but not in focused-attention conditions in which Ss only attend to 1 word. The data supported the attention hypothesis and therefore the instance theory. [A correction concerning this article appears in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 1994(Nov), Vol 20(6), 1390. The Appendix was incomplete and the complete Appendix is presented.] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is learned during automatization? The role of attention in constructing an instance.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 20(6) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2008-10475-001). In the aforementioned article, the Appendix on page 1050 was incomplete. The complete Appendix is presented in the erratum.] Seven experiments with 372 Ss were conducted to examine the role of attention in automatization. Ss searched 2-word displays for members of a target category in divided-attention, focused-attention, and dual-task conditions. The main issue was whether attention conditions would affect what Ss learned about co-occurrences of the words in the displays. The attention hypothesis, derived from the instance theory of automaticity, predicts learning of co-occurrences in divided-attention and dual-task conditions in which Ss attend to both words but not in focused-attention conditions in which Ss only attend to 1 word. The data supported the attention hypothesis and therefore the instance theory. [A correction concerning this article appears in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 1994(Nov), Vol 20(6), 1390. The Appendix was incomplete and the complete Appendix is presented.] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bilingualism reduces native-language interference during novel-word learning.

The goal of the present work was to examine the effects of bilingualism on adults’ ability to resolve cross-linguistic inconsistencies in orthography-to-phonology mappings during novel-word learning. English monolinguals and English–Spanish bilinguals learned artificially constructed novel words that overlapped with English orthographically but diverged from English phonologically. Native-language orthographic information presented during learning interfered with encoding of novel words in monolinguals but not in bilinguals. In general, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on the word-learning task. These findings indicate that knowledge of 2 languages facilitates word learning and shields English–Spanish bilinguals from interference associated with cross-linguistic inconsistencies in letter-to-phoneme mappings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What can we learn from the morphology of Hebrew? A masked-priming investigation of morphological representation.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 23(5) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2008-09898-001). On page 854, two Hebrew words are missing from Appendix F. The corrected Appendix appears with the erratum.] All Hebrew words are composed of 2 interwoven morphemes: a triconsonantal root and a phonological word pattern. The lexical representations of these morphemic units were examined using masked priming. When primes and targets shared an identical word pattern, neither lexical decision nor naming of targets was facilitated. In contrast, root primes facilitated both lexical decisions and naming of target words that were derived from these roots. This priming effect proved to be independent of meaning similarity because no priming effects were found when primes and targets were semantically but not morphologically related. These results suggest that Hebrew roots are lexical units whereas word patterns are not. A working model of lexical organization in Hebrew is offered on the basis of these results. (A correction concerning this article appears in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1997, Vol 23(5), 1189–1191. On page 854 of the current issue, two Hebrew words are missing from Appendix F. The corrected Appendix appears in this correction.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imageability effects in word naming: An individual differences analysis.

The present research was designed to extend research by Strain et al (1995) who found that imageability facilitates naming of low-frequency irregular words. The authors hypothesized that the impact of imageability on naming performance will vary with phonological reading ability. For participants who score high in phonological reading ability, the effect of imageability should be seen primarily on naming of low-frequency exception words where the orthography-to-phonology mappings are not strong. For participants who score low in phonological reading ability, the mapping of orthography onto phonology is presumably inefficient for all types of low-frequency words. Accordingly, for these participants, it was predicted that imageability would affect naming of both exception and regular words. 90 college students served as Ss. Exp 1 shows that the impact of imageability on word naming varies with phonological coding skill. In Exp 2, the effect of imageability on naming low-frequency irregular words was shown to occur across an extended set of items. Together, the present findings support the notion that semantics may play a role in phonological coding when the mappings between orthography and phonology are weak. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic effects in single-word naming.

Three experiments demonstrated that, for lower frequency words, reading aloud is affected not only by spelling-sound typicality but also by a semantic variable, imageability. Participants were slower and more error prone when naming exception words with abstract meanings (e.g., scarce ) than when naming either abstract regular words (e.g., scribe ) or imageable exception words (e.g., soot ). It is proposed that semantic representations of words have the largest impact on translating orthography to phonology when this translation process is slow or noisy (i.e., for low-frequency exceptions) and that words with rich semantic representations (i.e., high-imageability words) are most likely to benefit from this interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Effects of Practice on Mnemonic Encodings Involving Prior Knowledge and Semantic Memory: Reply to Rickard and Bajic (2003).

T. C. Rickard and D. Bajic's (2003; see record 2003-09575-023) finding of a transition to unmediated retrieval of paired associates after retrieval practice is reconciled with R. J. Crutcher and K. A. Ericsson's (2000; see record 2000-05419-014) finding of a continued linkage to keyword mediators after extended retrieval of vocabulary pairs. The discrepant findings are attributed to differences between the respective paradigms. The task of learning a large number of Spanish-English pairs using mediators that rely on preexisting phonological similarity and semantic associations is contrasted to the task of memorizing a small number of arbitrarily paired color words and digits (e.g., GREEN-5) that rely on mediating associations (e.g., GREEN-F and F-5) learned in the same session. These qualitative differences in encoding between the studies arc proposed to lead to differential consequences of continued practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"What can we learn from the morphology of Hebrew? A masked-priming investigation of morphological representation": Correction to Frost et al. 1997.

Reports an error in "What can we learn from the morphology of Hebrew? A masked-priming investigation of morphological representation" by Ram Frost, Kenneth I. Forster and Avital Deutsch (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1997[Jul], Vol 23[4], 829-856). On page 854, two Hebrew words are missing from Appendix F. The corrected Appendix appears with the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1997-05320-003.) All Hebrew words are composed of 2 interwoven morphemes: a triconsonantal root and a phonological word pattern. The lexical representations of these morphemic units were examined using masked priming. When primes and targets shared an identical word pattern, neither lexical decision nor naming of targets was facilitated. In contrast, root primes facilitated both lexical decisions and naming of target words that were derived from these roots. This priming effect proved to be independent of meaning similarity because no priming effects were found when primes and targets were semantically but not morphologically related. These results suggest that Hebrew roots are lexical units whereas word patterns are not. A working model of lexical organization in Hebrew is offered on the basis of these results. (A correction concerning this article appears in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1997, Vol 23(5), 1189-1191. On page 854 of the current issue, two Hebrew words are missing from Appendix F. The corrected Appendix appears in this correction.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of the temporal structure of spoken words on paired-associate learning.

In a series of experiments, participants learned to associate black-and-white shapes with nonsense spoken labels (e.g., “joop”). When tested on their recognition memory, participants falsely recognized as correct a shape paired with a label that began with the same sounds as the shape’s original label (onset-overlapping lure; e.g., joob) more often than a shape paired with a label that overlapped with the original label at offset (offset-overlapping lure; e.g., choop). Furthermore, the false-alarm rate was modulated by the phonetic distance between the sounds that distinguished the original label and the lures. Greater false-alarm rates to onset-overlapping labels were not predicted by explicit similarity ratings or by consonant identification and were not dependent upon label familiarity. The asymmetry at erroneously recognizing onset- versus offset-overlapping lures remained unchanged as the presentation of the shape at test was delayed in time, suggesting that response anticipation based on the first sounds of the spoken label did not contribute much to the false recognition of onset-overlapping lures. Thus, learning 2 words whose names differ in their last sounds appears to pose greater difficulty than learning 2 words whose names differ in their first sounds because, we argue, people are biased to give more importance to the early sounds of a name than to its last sounds when learning a novel label–referent association. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple lexical codes in reading: Evidence from eye movements, naming time, and oral reading.

The role of semantic, orthographic, and phonological codes in word recognition and text integration in reading was investigated in 4 experiments. Participants read sentences containing words that had multiple semantic codes (e.g., calf), multiple semantic and orthographic codes (e.g., brake-break), or multiple semantic and phonological codes (e.g., tear). Converging evidence from fixation time, naming time, and oral reading indicated that phonological, semantic, and orthographic information about words are sources of early constraint in word processing. Evidence was also found that indicated that phonological codes play an important role in text integration in reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eye movements to pictures reveal transient semantic activation during spoken word recognition.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 32(2) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2007-16796-001). The note to Appendix B (Stimuli Used in Experiment 2) on p. 14 contained errors. The fourth sentence, "For example, for participants receiving List A, lock was the target, key was the semantically related object, deer was the target's control, and apple was the related objects control" should read as follows: "For example, for participants receiving List A, logs was the target, key was the semantic onset competitor, and apple was the competitor's control."] Two experiments explore the activation of semantic information during spoken word recognition. Experiment 1 shows that as the name of an object unfolds (e.g., lock), eye movements are drawn to pictorial representations of both the named object and semantically related objects (e.g., key). Experiment 2 shows that objects semantically related to an uttered word's onset competitors become active enough to draw visual attention (e.g., if the uttered word is logs, participants fixate on key because of partial activation of lock), despite that the onset competitor itself is not present in the visual display. Together, these experiments provide detailed information about the activation of semantic information associated with a spoken word and its phonological competitors and demonstrate that transient semantic activation is sufficient to impact visual attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonological recoding of nonword orthographic rime primes.

The effectiveness of nonword orthographic rime primes as a function of the regularity (as defined by grapheme-phoneme correspondence [GPC] rules) of typical pronunciation was examined in this research. In Experiments 1 and 2, predictions from GPC and orthographic rime unit accounts converged, but in Experiments 3 and 4 they diverged. Experiment 1 showed that when nonword orthographic rimes were used to prime consistent regular words (e.g., mist) and atypically irregular words (e.g., pint), reliable priming was observed for regular words, but priming of atypically irregular words occurred only in the 2nd block of trials, after the orthographic rime prime itself had been primed by the Block 1 presentation of the target word. In subsequent experiments, only the 1st block of trials was examined. Experiment 2 replicated selective priming of consistent regular words observed in Block 1 of Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, nonword orthographic rimes were as effective at priming typically irregular target words (e.g., grind) as they were in priming inconsistent but typically regular target words (e.g., flint)… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Eye movements to pictures reveal transient semantic activation during spoken word recognition": Correction to Yee and Sedivy (2006).

Reports an error in "Eye Movements to Pictures Reveal Transient Semantic Activation During Spoken Word Recognition" by Eiling Yee and Julie C. Sedivy (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2006[Jan], Vol 32[1], 1-14). The note to Appendix B (Stimuli Used in Experiment 2) on p. 14 contained errors. The fourth sentence, "For example, for participants receiving List A, lock was the target, key was the semantically related object, deer was the target's control, and apple was the related objects control" should read as follows: "For example, for participants receiving List A, logs was the target, key was the semantic onset competitor, and apple was the competitor's control." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2006-01955-001.) Two experiments explore the activation of semantic information during spoken word recognition. Experiment 1 shows that as the name of an object unfolds (e.g., lock), eye movements are drawn to pictorial representations of both the named object and semantically related objects (e.g., key). Experiment 2 shows that objects semantically related to an uttered word's onset competitors become active enough to draw visual attention (e.g., if the uttered word is logs, participants fixate on key because of partial activation of lock), despite that the onset competitor itself is not present in the visual display. Together, these experiments provide detailed information about the activation of semantic information associated with a spoken word and its phonological competitors and demonstrate that transient semantic activation is sufficient to impact visual attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic activation of phonological information in reading: evidence from the semantic relatedness decision task

A semantic relatedness decision task was used to investigate whether phonological recording occurs automatically and whether it mediates lexical access in visual word recognition and reading. In this task, subjects read a pair of words and decided whether they were related or unrelated in meaning. In Experiment 1, unrelated word-homophone pairs (e.g., LION-BARE) and their visual controls (e.g., LION-BEAN) as well as related word pairs (e.g., FISH-NET) were presented. Homophone pairs were more likely to be judged as related or more slowly rejected as unrelated than their control pairs, suggesting phonological access of word meanings. In Experiment 2, word-pseudohomophone pairs (e.g., TABLE-CHARE) and their visual controls (e.g., TABLE-CHARK) as well as related and unrelated word pairs were presented. Pseudohomophone pairs were more likely to be judged as related or more slowly rejected as unrelated than their control pairs, again suggesting automatic phonological recording in reading.     

The arbitrariness of the sign: Learning advantages from the structure of the vocabulary.

Recent research has demonstrated that systematic mappings between phonological word forms and their meanings can facilitate language learning (e.g., in the form of sound symbolism or cues to grammatical categories). Yet, paradoxically from a learning viewpoint, most words have an arbitrary form-meaning mapping. We hypothesized that this paradox may reflect a division of labor between 2 different language learning functions: arbitrariness facilitates learning specific word meanings and systematicity facilitates learning to group words into categories. In a series of computational investigations and artificial language learning studies, we varied the extent to which the language was arbitrary or systematic. For both the simulations and the behavioral studies, we found that the optimal structure of the vocabulary for learning incorporated this division of labor. Corpus analyses of English and French indicate that these predicted patterns are also found in natural languages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Code-specific processes in word naming: Evidence supporting a dual-route model of word recognition.

This research examined visual and phonological coding in visual word recognition, Participants named words while performing 1 of 3 memory tasks. The difficulty of the memory tasks was varied. In Experiment 1, increasing the difficulty of a digit-memory load resulted in slower naming of low-frequency regular (e.g., wink) words but faster naming of low-frequency exception (e.g., pint) words. In Experiment 2, increasing the difficulty of a dot-memory load slowed naming of low-frequency exception words more than naming of low-frequency regular words. In Experiment 3, increasing the difficulty of a tone-memory load resulted in slower naming of both low-frequency regular and exception words. The results are consistent with dual-route assumptions concerning code-specific processes in word recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring Two-Wave Reciprocal Structural Relations Among Orthographic Knowledge, Phonological Sensitivity, and Reading and Spelling of English Words by Chinese Students.

In a 2-wave study of a cohort of 108 Chinese students (10- to 11-year-olds) learning English as a second language, the authors examined the relative effects of three Time 1 latent constructs-- orthographic knowledge, phonological sensitivity, and word identification (reading and spelling of regular and exception words)--on the respective Time 2 performance. The authors posited autoregressive effects, in which Time 1 constructs affected their matching Time 2 performance (e.g., Time 1 orthographic knowledge on Time 2 orthographic knowledge), as well as reciprocal cross-domain effects (e.g., orthographic knowledge on word identification and vice versa). The model converged to a proper solution with reasonably good fit. The results suggest (a) strong stability in the children's word identification and phonological sensitivity, (b) substantial effects of word identification on subsequent orthographic knowledge and phonological sensitivity, particularly the former; and (c) greater variations in individuals' growth of orthographic knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned predictiveness effects in humans: A function of learning, performance, or both?

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 36(1) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes (see record 2010-02315-003). In the article “Learned predictiveness effects in humans: A function of learning, performance, or both?” by M. E. Le Pelley, M. B. Suret, and T. Beesley (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 35, 312–327), an incorrect equation was printed. The correct version of Equation 2 is: Δαp > 0 if |λ - Vp| VQ| and Δαp Vp| > |λ - VQ|.] Many previous studies of animal and human learning indicate a processing advantage for cues previously experienced as good predictors of outcomes over those experienced as poorer predictors. Four studies of human associative learning investigated whether learned predictiveness acts at the level of learning (modulating the rate at which cue–outcome associations form), performance (modulating the strength of behavioral responses), or both. In Experiments 1–3, it was found that retrospectively altering the learned predictiveness of cues influenced responding to those cues, demonstrating that learned predictiveness influences performance. Experiment 4 indicates that learned predictiveness also influences learning by demonstrating that the learned predictiveness of a cue affects the acquisition of an association between a novel cue and the outcome with which it is paired. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)