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)     

On the complexities of measuring naming.

The aims of this study were to investigate the adequacy of electronic voice keys for the purpose of measuring naming latency and to test the assumption that voice key error can be controlled by matching conditions on initial phoneme. Three types of naming latency measurements (hand-coding and 2 types of voice keys) were used to investigate effects of onset complexity (e.g., sat vs. spat) on reading aloud (J. R. Frederiksen & J. F. Kroll, 1976, A. H. Kawamoto & C. T. Kello, 1999). The 3 measurement techniques produced the 3 logically possible results: a significant complexity advantage, a significant complexity disadvantage, and a null effect. Analyses of the performance of each voice key are carried out, and implications for studies of naming latency are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serial processing in reading aloud: Reply to Zorzi (2000).

K. Rastle and M. Coltheart (1999; see also M. Coltheart & K. Rastle, 1994) reported data demonstrating that the cost of irregularity in reading aloud low-frequency exception words is modulated by the position of the irregularity in the word. They argued that these data implicated a serial process and falsified all models of reading aloud that operate solely in parallel, a conclusion that M. Zorzi (2000) challenged by successfully simulating the position of irregularity effect with such a model. Zorzi (2000) further claimed that a reanalysis of K. Rastle and A Coltheart's (1999) data demonstrates sensitivity to grapheme-phoneme consistency (which he claimed was confounded across the position of irregularity manipulation) rather than the use of a serial process. Here, the authors argue that M. Zorzi's (2000) reanalyses were inappropriate and reassert that K. Rastle and A Coltheart's (1999) findings are evidence for serial processing. (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)     

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)     

DRC: A dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud.

This article describes the Dual Route Cascaded (DRC) model, a computational model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. The DRC is a computational realization of the dual-route theory of reading, and is the only computational model of reading that can perform the 2 tasks most commonly used to study reading: lexical decision and reading aloud. For both tasks, the authors show that a wide variety of variables that influence human latencies influence the DRC model's latencies in exactly the same way. The DRC model simulates a number of such effects that other computational models of reading do not, but there appear to be no effects that any other current computational model of reading can simulate but that the DRC model cannot. The authors conclude that the DRC model is the most successful of the existing computational models of reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading aloud begins when the computation of phonology is complete.

Naming latency experiments in which monosyllabic items are read aloud are based on the assumption that the vocal response is not initiated until the phonology of the entire syllable has been computed. Recently, this assumption has been challenged by A. H. Kawamoto, C. T. Kello, R. Jones, and K. Bame (1998), who argued instead that the reading-aloud response begins as soon as the initial phoneme is computed. This view would be refuted by evidence of anticipatory coarticulation effects on the initial phoneme due to the nature of the following vowel in the speeded reading-aloud task. The authors provide such evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characterizing the Motor Execution Stage of Speech Production: Consonantal Effects on Delayed Naming Latency and Onset Duration.

The research described in this article had 2 aims: to permit greater precision in the conduct of naming experiments and to contribute to a characterization of the motor execution stage of speech production. The authors report an exhaustive inventory of consonantal and postconsonantal influences on delayed naming latency and onset acoustic duration, derived from a hand-labeled corpus of single-syllable consonant-vowel utterances. Five talkers produced 6 repetitions each of a set of 168 prepared monosyllables, a set that comprised each of the consonantal onsets of English in 3 vowel contexts. Strong and significant effects associated with phonetic characteristics of initial and noninitial phonemes were observed on both delayed naming latency and onset acoustic duration. Results are discussed in terms of the biomechanical properties of the articulatory system that may give rise to these effects and in terms of their methodological implications for naming experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)