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A New Paradigm for Studying Word Recognition During Reading—Explorations with Word Frequency Effects
Author(s) -
Lété Bernard,
Zagar Daniel,
Pynte Joël
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/00207599408246546
Subject(s) - word lists by frequency , reading (process) , word (group theory) , word recognition , psychology , context (archaeology) , perception , speech recognition , linguistics , natural language processing , cognitive psychology , communication , computer science , sentence , philosophy , neuroscience , paleontology , biology
Four experiments were carried out to investigate the use of a new paradigm to study word recognition in reading. A new version of self‐paced reading (APS 2) makes the distinction between word display time (pressing time = PT) and the blank screen (releasing time = RT). Each time represents a particular processing stage: PT represents lexical identification, and RT represents the use of lexical information. The two stages differentiate pre‐ and post‐lexical processes, respectively. Word frequency is manipulated to affect the two predefined stages of processing. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 showed that (1) frequency affects target PT and RT, and post‐target RT when subjects read texts, and (2) the frequency effect was observed only with target PT when subjects read the same words in word‐list context. Descriptive analyses showed that the observed effect on target PT in fact depended upon the subjects' reading strategies and perceptual constraints. This result was replicated in Experiment 4, in which a frequency post‐effect was observed. Finally, a general framework is proposed to clarify the control of hand movements in APS 2.