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Inhibitory mechanisms in visual word recognition
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Harvey, David R. (2021) Inhibitory mechanisms in visual word recognition. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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WRAP_Theses_Harvey_2021.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (824Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3679318~S15
Abstract
Many models of visual word recognition rely on a mechanism of lexical inhibition: competitive connections between the representations of visually similar words. This thesis seeks to explore whether effects attributed to lexical inhibition could instead be explained by an alternative mechanism, involving “neighbourly” inhibition based on non-homogeneous inhibitory connections between letter and word representations, based on the presence of visually similar words (orthographic neighbours) in the lexicon. An introduction to visual word recognition is provided, along with some key methodological concepts: the lexical decision task, masked priming and computational modelling, before exploring research literature relevant to visual word recognition and the effects of orthographically similar words. Neighbourly priming is then explored with a series of experiments utilising the masked priming lexical decision methodology, with reaction times and error rates analysed using linear mixed-effects modelling. In the final two experiments, an alphabetic decision task is deployed with a novel collection of non-English foil letters, and sandwich priming is used to explore the effects of introducing a target preprime before neighbourly primes. Computational modelling is used to compare a model that implements the hypothesised neighbourly priming mechanism with one that does not. Finally, the evidence for neighbourly priming is discussed, concluding that neighbourly inhibition is a potential alternative explanation for at least some of the effects attributed to lexical competition.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology | ||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Word recognition, Psycholinguistics | ||||
| Official Date: | June 2021 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
| Theses Department: | Department of Psychology | ||||
| Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
| Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
| Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Adelman, James S. | ||||
| Sponsors: | University of Warwick. Department of Psychology | ||||
| Format of File: | |||||
| Extent: | ix, 120 leaves | ||||
| Language: | eng |
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