Perceptual and lexical effects in letter identification: An event-related potential study of the word superiority effect

Most classical models of visual word recognition are based on sequentially organized levels of representation and involve feedback mechanisms to various extents. In this study, we aim at clarifying which of the early processing stages of visual word recognition are modulated by top-down lexical effects. We studied the identification of letters embedded in briefly presented words (e.g., TABLE) and illegal nonwords (e.g., GTFRS) using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants were involved in the Reicher-Wheeler paradigm: they were asked to indicate which of two letters displayed above and below a string of hashes was flashed immediately before at fixation within a letter string, which was either a word or a nonword. Event-related potentials were significantly modulated by the lexical status of stimuli around 200 ms after stimulus onset, i.e., in the peaking window of the N1 component. In light of our results, we propose that visual word form representations can constrain letter identification at a prelexical stage i.e., during the extraction of letter-shape information. In addition, we show that this facilitatory top-down effect is sensitive to stimulus exposure duration.

[1]  Mario Braun,et al.  Model-generated lexical activity predicts graded ERP amplitudes in lexical decision , 2006, Brain Research.

[2]  William D. Marslen-Wilson,et al.  The time course of visual word recognition as revealed by linear regression analysis of ERP data , 2006, NeuroImage.

[3]  S. Dehaene,et al.  Visual word recognition in the left and right hemispheres: anatomical and functional correlates of peripheral alexias. , 2003, Cerebral cortex.

[4]  J. L. Mcclelland.  Preliminary letter identification in the perception of words and nonwords. , 1976, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[5]  F. Pulvermüller,et al.  Effects of word length and frequency on the human event-related potential , 2004, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[6]  R Salmelin,et al.  Neurophysiology of fluent and impaired reading: a magnetoencephalographic approach. , 2000, Journal of clinical neurophysiology : official publication of the American Electroencephalographic Society.

[7]  James L. McClelland,et al.  An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: part 1.: an account of basic findings , 1988 .

[8]  K. Uutela,et al.  Impaired visual word processing in dyslexia revealed with magnetoencephalography , 1996, Annals of neurology.

[9]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Brain activity during reading. The effects of exposure duration and task. , 1994, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[10]  S Lehéricy,et al.  The visual word form area: spatial and temporal characterization of an initial stage of reading in normal subjects and posterior split-brain patients. , 2000, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[11]  Alec Marantz,et al.  The precise time course of lexical activation: MEG measurements of the effects of frequency, probability, and density in lexical decision , 2004, Brain and Language.

[12]  J. Pernier,et al.  ERP Manifestations of Processing Printed Words at Different Psycholinguistic Levels: Time Course and Scalp Distribution , 1999, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[13]  Riitta Salmelin,et al.  Cortical Effects of Shifting Letter Position in Letter Strings of Varying Length , 2003 .

[14]  A. Proverbio,et al.  Electrophysiological Measures of Language Processing in Bilinguals , 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[15]  James L. McClelland.  On the time relations of mental processes: An examination of systems of processes in cascade. , 1979 .

[16]  E. T. Possing,et al.  Neural Correlates of Lexical Access during Visual Word Recognition , 2003, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[17]  Jonathan Grainger,et al.  A dual read-out model of word context effects in letter perception: Further investigations of the word superiority effect. , 1994 .

[18]  E Donchin,et al.  P300 and the word frequency effect. , 1988, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[19]  James L. McClelland,et al.  An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: I. An account of basic findings. , 1981 .

[20]  G. M. Reicher.  Perceptual recognition as a function of meaninfulness of stimulus material. , 1969, Journal of experimental psychology.

[21]  T. Allison,et al.  Word recognition in the human inferior temporal lobe , 1994, Nature.

[22]  Heinz Wimmer,et al.  When does the brain register deviances from standard word spellings?--An ERP study. , 2004, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[23]  J. Grainger,et al.  An Electrophysiological Study of the Effects of Orthographic Neighborhood Size on Printed Word Perception , 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[24]  M Coltheart,et al.  DRC: a dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. , 2001, Psychological review.

[25]  J. Ziegler,et al.  Word superiority, pseudoword superiority, and learning to read: A comparison of dyslexic and normal readers , 2003, Brain and Language.

[26]  Michael D. Rugg,et al.  An event-related potential study of the effects of within- and across-modality word repetition , 1993 .

[27]  Bruno Rossion,et al.  Early lateralization and orientation tuning for face, word, and object processing in the visual cortex , 2003, NeuroImage.

[28]  P. Mousty,et al.  Brulex: une base de donne 'es lexicales informatise 'e pour le franc?ais e 'crit et parle , 1990 .

[29]  A. Jacobs,et al.  Testing a semistochastic variant of the interactive activation model in different word recognition experiments. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[30]  Grégory Simon,et al.  CHRONOMETRY OF VISUAL WORD RECOGNITION DURING PASSIVE AND LEXICAL DECISION TASKS: AN ERP INVESTIGATION , 2004, The International journal of neuroscience.

[31]  Margot J. Taylor,et al.  Guidelines for using human event-related potentials to study cognition: recording standards and publication criteria. , 2000, Psychophysiology.

[32]  J Grainger,et al.  Orthographic processing in visual word recognition: a multiple read-out model. , 1996, Psychological review.

[33]  R. Salmelin,et al.  Dynamics of letter string perception in the human occipitotemporal cortex. , 1999, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[34]  Morten L. Kringelbach,et al.  Visual word recognition: the first half second , 2004, NeuroImage.

[35]  James L. McClelland,et al.  An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: Part 2. The contextual enhancement effect and some tests and extensions of the model. , 1982, Psychological review.

[36]  F. Pulvermüller,et al.  Neuromagnetic evidence for early access to cognitive representations , 2001, Neuroreport.

[37]  Alice Mado Proverbio,et al.  From Orthography to Phonetics: ERP Measures of Grapheme-to-Phoneme Conversion Mechanisms in Reading , 2004, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[38]  M. Posner,et al.  Establishing a time‐line of word recognition: evidence from eye movements and event‐related potentials , 1998, Neuroreport.

[39]  K. Rayner,et al.  Measuring word recognition in reading: eye movements and event-related potentials , 2003, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[40]  D. D. Wheeler.  Processes in word recognition , 1970 .

[41]  Bruce D. McCandliss,et al.  The visual word form area: expertise for reading in the fusiform gyrus , 2003, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[42]  J. M. Cattell.  THE TIME IT TAKES TO SEE AND NAME OBJECTS , 1886 .