Serial processing in reading aloud: No challenge for a parallel model.

K. Rastle and M. Coltheart (see record 1999-10532-012) challenged parallel models of reading by showing that the cost of irregularity in low-frequency exception words was modulated by the position of the irregularity in the word. This position-of-irregularity effect was taken as strong evidence of serial processing in reading. This article refutes Rastle and Coltheart's theoretical conclusions in 3 ways: First, a parallel model, the connectionist dual process model (M. Zorzi, G. Houghton, & B. Butterworth, 1998b), produces a position-of-irregularity effect. Second, the supposed serial effect can be reduced to a position-specific grapheme-phoneme consistency effect. Third, the position-of-irregularity effect vanishes when the experimental data are reanalyzed using grapheme-phoneme consistency as the covariate. This demonstration has broader implications for studies aiming at adjudicating between models: Strong inferences should be avoided until the computational models are actually tested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serial and strategic effects in reading aloud.

M. Coltheart and K. Rastle (1994) reported that the size of the regularity effect on word-naming latency decreases across position of irregularity, implicating a serial process in reading aloud. In response to criticism by D. C. Plaut, J. L. McClelland, M. S. Seidenberg, and K. Patterson (1996), these results were replicated with monosyllabic words that had been controlled for consistency. In a second experiment, participants named nonword- or regular-word targets mixed with either first-position irregular fillers or third-position irregular fillers. Target naming was slowed when first-position irregular fillers were present, compared with target naming when third-position irregular fillers were present. These data suggest that participants can slow use of the nonlexical route if faced with very costly exception words. Simulations using the dual-route cascaded model (M. Coltheart, B. Curtis, P. Atkins, & M. Haller, 1993) are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-language computational investigation of the length effect in reading aloud.

The authors examined whether 2 computational models of reading, the dual-route cascaded model (M. Coltheart, K. Rastle, C. Perry, R. Langdon, and J. C. Ziegler, 2001) and the connectionist 2-layer model (M. Zorzi, G. Houghton, and B. Butterworth, 1998), were able to predict the pattern that the length effect found in reading aloud is larger in German than in English (J. C. Ziegler, C. Perry, A. M. Jacobs, and M. Braun, 2001). The results showed that the dual-route cascaded model, which uses a serial mechanism for assembling phonology, successfully predicted this cross-language difference. In contrast, the connectionist model of Zorzi et al. (1998) predicted the opposite: a larger length effect in English than in German. Both the success of one model and the failure of the other highlight fundamental differences between 2 major classes of computational models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategic effects in word naming: Examining the route-emphasis versus time-criterion accounts.

K. Rastle and M. Coltheart (1999) demonstrated that both nonwords and low-frequency regular words are named more slowly when mixed with first-phoneme irregular word fillers (e.g., CHEF) than when mixed with third-phoneme irregular word fillers (e.g., GLOW). Those authors suggested that their effects were due to a strategic de-emphasis of the nonlexical route when first-phoneme irregular fillers were used. An alternative explanation is that these results simply reflect a more lax position of a time criterion (S. J. Lupker, P. Brown, and L. Colombo, 1997) in the first-phoneme irregular filler condition. We contrasted these 2 accounts in 4 experiments. In all experiments, target naming latencies were longer when the fillers were harder to name, regardless of whether the fillers were nonwords or exception words. These results strongly favor a time-criterion account of K. Rastle and M. Coltheart's effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additivity of factor effects in reading tasks is still a challenge for computational models: Reply to Ziegler, Perry, and Zorzi (2009).

J. C. Ziegler, C. Perry, and M. Zorzi (2009) have claimed that their connectionist dual process model (CDP+) can simulate the data reported by S. O'Malley and D. Besner. Most centrally, they have claimed that the model simulates additive effects of stimulus quality and word frequency on the time to read aloud when words and nonwords are randomly intermixed. This work represents an important attempt given that computational models of reading processes have to date largely ignored the issue of whether it is possible to simulate additive effects. Despite CDP+'s success at capturing many other phenomena, it is clear that CDP+ fails to capture the full pattern seen with skilled readers in these experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is the orthographic/phonological onset a single unit in reading aloud?

Two main theories of visual word recognition have been developed regarding the way orthographic units in printed words map onto phonological units in spoken words. One theory suggests that a string of single letters or letter clusters corresponds to a string of phonemes (Coltheart, 1978; Venezky, 1970), while the other suggests that a string of single letters or letter clusters corresponds to coarser phonological units, for example, onsets and rimes (Treiman & Chafetz, 1987). These theoretical assumptions were critical for the development of coding schemes in prominent computational models of word recognition and reading aloud. In a reading-aloud study, we tested whether the human reading system represents the orthographic/phonological onset of printed words and nonwords as single units or as separate letters/phonemes. Our results, which favored a letter and not an onset-coding scheme, were successfully simulated by the dual-route cascaded (DRC) model (Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001). A separate experiment was carried out to further adjudicate between 2 versions of the DRC model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serial processing in reading aloud: Evidence for dual-route models of reading.

The authors examined the regularity effect on reading aloud as a function of left-to-right phonemic position of irregularity in low-frequency exception words. Ss named 96 low-frequency exception words categorized into 5 conditions on the basis of the position (1st through 5th) of their 1st irregular grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence (GPC). Latencies and error rates for these words were compared with the rates for 96 matched GPC regular controls. Results showed that the cost of irregularity decreased monotonically over the 5 positions of irregularity. This result is offered as evidence for dual-route models of reading and against parallel distributed processing models of reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neighbourhood density effects in reading aloud: New insights from simulations with the DRC model.

A series of nine simulations with the Dual Route Cascaded (DRC) model (M. Coltheart, K. Rastle, C. Perry, R. Langdon, & J. Ziegler, 2001) investigated neighbourhood density (N) effects in nonword and word naming. Two main findings emerged from this work. First, when naming nonwords there are two loci for the effect of N in the model, contrary to M. Coltheart et al.'s single locus explanation of what the model is doing. The early N effect involves interactive activation between the orthographic lexicon and the letter units such that high N facilitates letter identification, which in turn affects the nonlexical route. The late N effect arises from activation in the orthographic lexicon that feeds forward to the phonological lexicon and primes phonemes in the phoneme system. Second, when naming words the presence/absence of an effect of N on the Letter Units through feedback from the lexical level depends on the parameter settings. Implications and suggestions for future directions are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

“Additive and interactive effects of stimulus degradation: No challenge for CDP+”: Correction to Ziegler et al. (2009).

Reports an error in "Additive and interactive effects of stimulus degradation: No challenge for CDP+" by Johannes C. Ziegler, Conrad Perry and Marco Zorzi (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2009[Jan], Vol 35[1], 306-311). The URL for the supplemental material was incomplete. The complete URL is http:dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0013738.supp. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-18581-023.) S. O'Malley and D. Besner (2008) showed that additive effects of stimulus degradation and word frequency in reading aloud occur in the presence of nonwords but not in pure word lists. They argued that this dissociation presents a major challenge to interactive computational models of reading aloud and claimed that no currently implemented model is able to simulate additive effects in these conditions. In the current article, it is shown that the connectionist dual process model (CDP+) can simulate these effects because its nonlexical route is thresholded. The authors present a series of simulations showing that CDP+ can not only simulate the precise dissociation observed by O'Malley and Besner but more generally can produce additive effects for a wide range of parameter combinations and different sets of items. The nonlexical route of CDP+ was not modified post hoc to deal with the effects of stimulus quality, but it had been thresholded for principled reasons before it was known that these effects existed. Together, the effects of stimulus quality on word frequency do not challenge CDP+ but rather provide unexpected support for its architecture and processing dynamics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical and nonlexical phonological priming in reading aloud.

Five homophone priming experiments were reported in which the lexicality of primes and targets were varied, so that primes and targets were either nonword homophones (keff-keph), word homophones (brake-break), pseudohomophones (brayk-braik), or of mixed lexicality (brake-brayk and brayk-break). Results showed that naming of targets was facilitated by a phonologically identical prime only when a word was in the prime-target pairing. Simulations of these data using the dual-route cascaded model of reading (e.g., M. Coltheart, B. Curtis, P. Atkins, & M. Haller, 1993) were also reported. These results are evidence against the view that there is a critical early stage in the process of visual word recognition in which words are represented in purely phonological form, and they are evidence for the view that knowledge of orthography and phonology is represented locally in the reading system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Models of reading aloud: Dual-route and parallel-distributed-processing approaches.

It has often been argued that various facts about skilled reading aloud cannot be explained by any model unless that model possesses a dual-route architecture (lexical and nonlexical routes from print to speech). This broad claim has been challenged by M. S. Seidenberg and J. L. McClelland (1989, 1990). Their model has but a single route from print to speech, yet, they contend, it can account for major facts about reading that have hitherto been claimed to require a dual-route architecture. The authors identify 6 of these major facts about reading. The 1-route model proposed by Seidenberg and McClelland can account for the 1st of these but not the remaining 5. Because models with dual-route architectures can explain all 6 of these basic facts about reading, the authors suggest that this remains the viable architecture for any tenable model of skilled reading and learning to read. The dual-route cascaded model, a computational version of the dual-route model, is described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the Anglocentricities of current reading research and practice: The perils of overreliance on an "outlier" orthography.

In this critique of current reading research and practice, the author contends that the extreme ambiguity of English spelling-sound correspondence has confined reading science to an insular, Anglocentric research agenda addressing theoretical and applied issues with limited relevance for a universal science of reading. The unique problems posed by this "outlier" orthography, the author argues, have focused disproportionate attention on oral reading accuracy at the expense of silent reading, meaning access, and fluency, and have significantly distorted theorizing with regard to many issues-including phonological awareness, early reading instruction, the architecture of stage models of reading development, the definition and remediation of reading disability, and the role of lexical-semantic and supralexical information in word recognition. The dominant theoretical paradigm in contemporary (word) reading research--the Coltheart/Baron dual-route model (see, e.g., J. Baron, 1977; M. Coltheart, 1978) and, in large measure, its connectionist rivals--arose largely in response to English spelling-sound obtuseness. The model accounts for a range of English-language findings, but it is ill-equipped to serve the interests of a universal science of reading chiefly because it overlooks a fundamental unfamiliar-to-familiar/novice-to-expert dualism applicable to all words and readers in all orthographies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serial processing is consistent with the time course of linguistic information extraction from consecutive words during eye fixations in reading: A response to Inhoff, Eiter, and Radach (2005).

A. W. Inhoff, B. M. Eiter, and R. Radach (see record 2005-13471-012) reported the results of 2 experiments that they claimed were problematic for serial attention models of eye movements in reading (such as the E-Z Reader model). In this reply, the authors demonstrate via argumentation and simulations that their data pose no serious problem for the E-Z Reader model or serial attention models in general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neighbourhood Density, Word Frequency, and Spelling-Sound Regularity Effects in Naming: Similarities and Differences Between Skilled Readers and the Dual Route Cascaded Computational Model.

An experiment with skilled readers and a series of simulations with the Dual Route Cascaded model (Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001) investigated the joint effects of stimulus quality and Neighbourhood Density (N) in nonword naming. Neighbourhood Density and stimulus quality yielded additive effects on reaction time (RT) for skilled readers whereas the model produced an interaction between these factors. A further set of simulations show that DRC also produces an interaction between stimulus quality and (1) word frequency, (2) spelling-sound regularity, and, (3) nonword letter length. None of these three factors interact with stimulus quality in performance by skilled readers. It is suggested that DRC's assumption of cascaded processing throughout represents a central problem. A proposal as to how the model can be modified to accommodate these and other problematic data is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic involvement in reading aloud: Evidence from a nonword training study.

The current research uses a novel methodology to examine the role of semantics in reading aloud. Participants were trained to read aloud 2 sets of novel words (i.e., nonwords such as bink): some with meanings (semantic) and some without (nonsemantic). A comparison of reading aloud performance between these 2 sets of novel words was used to provide an indicator of the importance of semantic information in reading aloud. In Experiment 1, in contrast to expectations, reading aloud performance was not better for novel words in the semantic condition. In Experiment 2, the training of novel words was modified to reflect more realistic steps of lexical acquisition: Reading aloud performance became faster and more accurate for novel words in the semantic condition, but only for novel words with inconsistent pronunciations. This semantic advantage for inconsistent novel words was again observed when a subset of participants from Experiment 2 was retested 6-12 months later (in Experiment 3). These findings provide support for a limited but significant role for semantics in the reading aloud process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voice-specific information and the 20-second delayed-suffix effect.

Conducted 2 experiments with a total of 201 university students to investigate the nature of the delayed-suffix effect reported by M. J. Watkins and A. K. Todres (see record 1981-09636-001). In both experiments, Ss were presented lists of digits for serial recall. At the end of each list, either a tone or a voice reading aloud the word go was presented. The voice was either in the same voice that read the digits or in a different voice. Past research has indicated that the tone control produces the least interference, followed by the different-voice suffix, which in turn produces less interference than the same-voice suffix. The results of the present experiments indicate that when Ss were tested on immediate recall for the lists, the typical ordering of tone control, different-voice suffix, and same-voice suffix on recall at the last serial position was found. However, when there was a 20-sec filled interval between the last list item and the suffix, there was only a difference between the tone control and the same- and different-voice suffixes with no difference between the latter 2 conditions. In addition, Exp II failed to support a simple attentional account of the differential influence of voice in the immediate and delayed-recall conditions. It is concluded that the results support a perceptual tuning mechanism in which perceptual specificity decreases with the passage of time. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Let's be realistic!

Replies to comments by M. B. Smith (see record 2000-02781-010), K Sheldon et al (see record 2000-02781-011), and J. M. DuBois (see record 2000-02781-012) on H. H. Kendler's (see record 1999-11644-004) article on the role of value in the world of psychology. They incorrectly read into Kendler's position an espousal of a so-called value-free science, a discipline that is free of all values. A major thrust of Kendler's article was not that all of science is value free but instead that scientific data are value neutral; there is no logical connection between the natural is and the moral ought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Error Biases in Spoken Word Planning and Monitoring by Aphasic and Nonaphasic Speakers: Comment on Rapp and Goldrick (2000).

B. Rapp and M. Goldrick (2000) claimed that the lexical and mixed error biases in picture naming by aphasic and nonaphasic speakers argue against models that assume a feedforward-only relationship between lexical items and their sounds in spoken word production. The author contests this claim by showing that a feedforward-only model like WEAVER++ (W. J. M. Levelt, A. Roelofs, & A. S. Meyer, 1999b) exhibits the error biases in word planning and self-monitoring. Furthermore, it is argued that extant feedback accounts of the error biases and relevant chronometric effects are incompatible. WEAVER++ simulations with self-monitoring revealed that this model accounts for the chronometric data, the error biases, and the influence of the impairment locus in aphasic speakers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)