Word recognition from a frame and fill perspective: Unraveling the impact of spatial frequency processing and prediction generation on reading proficiency

鉴于良好的阅读技能对现代社会所有成员的巨大重要性，有必要了解学习障碍(如阅读困难)领域以外的个体间阅读能力差异的原因。在不忽视潜在影响因素的多样性的情况下，本研究项目侧重于视觉知觉的差异及其对阅读能力的影响。在已建立的视觉物体识别的神经认知模型--Mohe Bar的框架和填充模型(Faf)的基础上，将研究阅读技能在多大程度上取决于两个相互关联的因素，即(1)在处理高和低空间频率(每个视角的暗边和亮边的数量)方面的差异；(2)在使用低空间频率信息快速生成关于单词身份的预测方面的差异。将前缀理论推广到词识别领域，可以通过一个一般的知觉模型来解释阅读表现，从而为阅读研究产生新的、明确可验证的假设。其关于大脑皮层局部化和个别加工步骤的时间进程的特定假设使得在单词识别领域的多个层面上的多模式测试成为可能。研究目的一是使用所谓的纳旺刺激(即，多个局部高频刺激排列形成全局低频刺激)进行大规模筛选测试，以识别对低或高空间频率有偏好的个体。此外，通过一个创新的轮廓启动任务，研究了空间频率偏好对单词识别速度和准确率的个体间差异的影响，其中低空间频率成分(单词轮廓)应该促进单词身份预测的生成。目的研究空间频率加工和轮廓驱动预测产生的神经元基础在不同阅读模式下的不同被试。脑电的高时间分辨率将被用来研究FAF假设的准确的预测生成和后续处理便利化的时间过程。FMRI的高空间分辨率反过来将允许验证中央Faf假说，即基于低频的物体身份预测起源于眼眶前额叶皮质。

Given the enormous importance of good reading skills for all members of modern societies, it is necessary to understand the causes of inter-individual differences in reading ability beyond the field of learning disorders (e.g., dyslexia). Without ignoring the diversity of potentially influencing factors, this research project focuses on differences in visual perception and their influence on reading ability. Building on an established neurocognitive model for visual object recognition, the Frame and Fill model (FaF) by Moshe Bar, it will be investigated to what extent reading skill depends on two inter-related factors, namely, (1) on differences in processing high and low spatial frequencies (number of dark and bright edges per visual angle), and (2) on differences in using low-spatial frequency information for quickly generating predictions about word identities. A generalization of FaF to the word recognition domain might explain reading performance through a general model of perception and therefore generate new, explicitly verifiable hypotheses for reading research. Its specific assumptions about cortical localizations and the time-course of individual processing steps enable multi-modal testing of FaF on several levels of the word recognition domain. Research objective one comprises large-scale screening tests to identify individuals with preferences for low or high spatial frequencies using so-called Navon stimuli (i.e., multiple local, high-frequency stimuli are arranged to form global, low-frequency stimuli). Furthermore, the influence of spatial frequency preference on inter-individual differences in word recognition speed and accuracy is investigated through an innovative contour-priming task, in which low-spatial frequency components (word contours) should promote the generation of word identity predictions. Objectives two and three investigate the neuronal underpinnings of spatial frequency processing and contour-driven prediction generation in participant groups of different reading profiles. The high temporal resolution of electroencephalography will be used to investigate the exact time-course of prediction generation and subsequent processing facilitation postulated by FaF. The high spatial resolution of fMRI , in turn, will allow verifying the central FaF-hypothesis, that low-frequency-based predictions of object identity originate in the orbitofrontal cortex.