Gregory O. Stone

What is the pronunciation for -ough and the spelling for /u/? A database for computing feedforward and feedback consistency in English

Recent studies suggest that performance attendant on visual word perception is affected not only by feedforward inconsistency (i.e., multiple ways to pronounce a spelling) but also by feedback inconsistency (i.e., multiple ways to spell a pronunciation). In the present study, we provide a statistical analysis of these types of inconsistency for all monosyllabic English words. This database can be used as a tool for controlling, selecting, and constructing stimulus materials for psycholinguistic and neuropsychological research. Such large-scale statistical analyses are necessary devices for developing metrics of inconsistency, for generating hypotheses for psycholinguistic experiments, and for building models of word perception, speech perception, and spelling.

Strategic control of processing in word recognition.

Strategic control of word recognition in a lexical decision task was examined by manipulating the similarity of nonword foils to real words (nonword lexicality). Overall correct reaction times to words and the advantage of high- over low-frequency words were greater when nonword foils were more wordlike. This was true for both illegal (BTESE) versus legal (DEEST) nonword foils and legal nonword versus pseudohomophone (BEEST) foils. The same pattern of results was replicated in a 2nd experiment in which the word targets were always irregular (e.g., HAVE). A 3rd experiment demonstrated a large frequency blocking effect for low-frequency words, given pseudohomophone foils. The results are applied to pathway selection and random-walk frame-works. For both framework, canonical models are developed, which characterize qualitative predictions of broad classes of models within that framework. We argue for a pluralistic approach to theory development that moves from lower to higher order isomorphisms between data and theory.

What do double dissociations prove

Brain damage may doubly dissociate cognitive modules, but the practice of revealing dissociations is predicated on modularity being true (T. Shallice, 1988). This article questions the utility of assuming modularity, as it examines a paradigmatic double dissociation of reading modules. Reading modules illustrate two general problems. First, modularity fails to converge on a fixed set of exclusionary criteria that define pure cases. As a consequence, competing modular theories force perennial quests for purer cases, which simply perpetuates growth in the list of exclusionary criteria. The first problem leads, in part, to the second problem. Modularity fails to converge on a fixed set of pure cases. The second failure perpetuates unending fractionation into more modules.

Statistical analysis of the bidirectional inconsistency of spelling and sound in French

Recent studies suggest that performance attendant on visual word perception is affected not only by the “traditional” feedforward inconsistency (spelling → phonology) but also by its feedback inconsistency (phonology → spelling). The present study presents a statistical analysis of the bidirectional inconsistency for all French monosyllabic words. We show that French is relatively consistent from spelling to phonology but highly inconsistent from phonology to spelling. Appendixes B and C list prior and conditional probabilities for all inconsistent mappings and thus provide a valuable tool for controlling, selecting, and constructing stimulus materials for psycholinguistic and neuropsychological research. Such large-scale statistical analyses about a language’s structure are crucial for developing metrics of inconsistency, generating hypotheses for cross-linguistic research, and building computational models of reading.

Building a Resonance Framework for Word Recognition Using Design and System Principles

Basic elements of a principle-based approach to model development are presented. The approach is needed to understand the operation of models capable of complex behavior. The use of principles facilitates both assignment of explanatory credit and blame when testing models and guides refinement of models when they fail. Two types of principles are distinguished: design and system. Design principles relate model behavior to observable human behavior. System principles relate model behavior to assumptions about a models formal structure (architectural axioms). The use of, and relationship between, such principles is illustrated by building the theoretical framework of resonance (S. Grossberg & G. O. Stone, 1986) through the successive addition of principles.

Reading homographs: orthographic, phonologic, and semantic dynamics.

Reading processes were compared across 3 word types: homographs (separate pronunciations and meanings, such as lead), homonyms (singular pronunciations but separate meanings, such as spring), and control words (e.g., clock). In Experiment 1, naming reaction times were significantly slower to homographs than to all other words. Experiments 2 and 3 used an association judgment task, with referent words related to the dominant or subordinate meanings of homonyms and homographs. In Experiment 2, homonyms and homographs were presented 1st, followed by disambiguating associates. In Experiment 3, presentation order was reversed. For homographs, performance costs always occurred for subordinate meanings. For homonyms, these costs vanished when context was provided by the preceding associates. The data underscore the priority of phonologic information in word meaning access and suggest that low- and high-level constraints combine to shape word perception.

Chapter 14 “Assembled” Phonology and Reading: A Case Study in How Theoretical Perspective Shapes Empirical Investigation

Publisher Summary This chapter report experiments that used three laboratory reading tasks such as new lexical decision, semantic categorization, and proofreading experiments. All produced large reliable effects of nonword phonology. If performance in laboratory tasks pertains to typical meaningful experience of text, then it should not be peculiar to a single task. Subjects in a lexical decision experiment judge whether individually presented letter strings are words. They respond “word” to letter strings that are words and “nonword” otherwise. The lexical decision task is used to test whether nonword stimuli falsely retrieve lexical memories of words similar in orthography and phonology. The method detects whether correct rejection of a nonword foil like SLEAT included retrieval of lexical memory for SLEET. Subjects in the lexical decision task judged whether individually presented letter strings were words. Ideally, the lexical decision task isolates word recognition because of the isolated presentation of letter strings, and because words merely need to be recognized for correct performance. But not surprisingly, perhaps, the lexical decision task falls short of this ideal. It requires that words should be discriminated from nonwords, not just recognized. Thus, effects thought to originate in recognition and retrieval is confounded with effects of (possibly) task-specific processes of discrimination.

Are words represented by nodes

Semantic priming in a lexical decision task was investigated with concurrent pretarget and posttarget primes. The posttarget prime also served as a pattern mask of the lexical decision target. Forward priming is defined as the presence of a semantically related pretarget prime and an unrelated posttarget prime. Backward priming is defined as the presence of a semantically related posttarget prime and an unrelated pretarget prime. Forward and backward priming were compared both when the nonword foils were “legal” and when they were “illegal” with respect to English orthography. Predictions were derived for two general approaches to word recognition: spreading-activation and expectancy-set theories. Both approaches assume that word representations occupy distinct, nonoverlapping locations in memory. Backward-prime facilitation was equivalent to forward-prime facilitation when nonword foils were illegal; however, backwardprime facilitation was not significant when nonword foils were legal. These results challenge both approaches. The proposed solution uses semantic-space (distributed) representations that arefunctionally unitized by a resonant matching (verification) process.

Perception and recognition memory of words and werds: Two-way mirror effects

We examined associative priming of words (e.g., toad) and pseudohomophones of those words (e.g., tode) in lexical decision. In addition to word frequency effects, reliable base-word frequency effects were observed for pseudohomophones: Those based on high-frequency words elicited faster and more accurate correct rejections. Associative priming had disparate effects on high- and low-frequency items. Whereas priming improved performance to high-frequency pseudohomophones, it impaired performance to low-frequency pseudohomophones. The results suggested a resonance process, wherein phonologic identity and semantic priming combine to undermine the veridical perception of infrequent items. We tested this hypothesis in another experiment by administering a surprise recognition memory test after lexical decision. When asked to identify words that were spelled correctly during lexical decision, the participants often misremembered pseudohomophones as correctly spelled items. Patterns of false memory, however, were jointly affected by base-word frequencies and their original responses during lexical decision. Taken together, the results are consistent with resonance accounts of word recognition, wherein bottom-up and top-down information sources coalesce into correct, and sometimes illusory, perception. The results are also consistent with a recent lexical decision model, REM-LD, that emphasizes memory retrieval and top-down matching processes in lexical decision.