THE USE OF A TACHISTOSCOPIC TASK TO STUDY WORD RECOGNITION IN A SENTENCE CONTEXT
Abstract
Information-pooling models of contextual word recognition are based on the premise that sensory information and contextual information are pooled at the level of detector-type units that control the accessability of representations for words in an internal lexicon. Thus, a sentence context is thought to produce a perceptual bias by reducing the amount of sensory information required to access representations for words predicted by the context. Serial-matching models are based on the premise that a preliminary context produces an increase in perceptual sensitivity by putting predicted words first in line for testing against the sensory information from the stimulus, with highly constrained words tested before poorly constrained words. Hypotheses based on the basic premise of each model were tested in two experiments. A YES-NO task was used in the first experiment to compare performance on words displayed tachistoscopically after precueing with an incomplete sentence context and after a neutral context (groups of X's), and analyses were based on signal detection theory. A forced-choice task was used in the second experiment to study the role of context under conditions that reducted the effects of post-stimulus response biases. Both experiments supported the hypothesis, based on predictions made by information-pooling models, that a preliminary sentence context would decrease the bias ratio, the ratio of misses to false alarams, by increasing the proportion of false alarms relative to misses. A second hypothesis, based on predictions made by information-pooling models, that the size of the bias change would increase with increasing contextual constraint was only partially supported. There was no support for the hypothesis, based on predictions of serial-matching models, that a performance measure unaffected by bias would increase in a sentence context, and that correct responses would increase with increasing contextual constraint.
Subject Area
Psychology|Experiments
Recommended Citation
HALE, BENITA LANDER, "THE USE OF A TACHISTOSCOPIC TASK TO STUDY WORD RECOGNITION IN A SENTENCE CONTEXT" (1982). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8219243.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8219243
