Activation and inhibition processes in the reader's lexicon

总结：几乎所有熟练阅读的理论都有一个原则，那就是单词识别是一个竞争性的过程。也就是说，当一个单词第一次被看到时，它和拼写相似的单词的心理表征开始变得活跃。如果这个系统完美无缺，那么随着时间的推移，适当词语的心理表征将抑制不恰当词语的心理表征，成为唯一活跃的词语。他说，这项提议的目的是继续我对适当词语表征赢得这场比赛的过程的审查。一个主要问题是如何定义“拼写相似的词”。大多数理论认为，特质的心理表征在阅读轨迹(一个字母的替代)时会瞬间激活，然而，试探词又如何呢？那么铁路等呢？我的实验室最近的结果表明，最初变得活跃的心理表征比大多数理论认为的要大得多，这意味着竞争过程也比最初想象的更复杂。他们说，检查这些想法的方法包括在计算机屏幕上呈现单个(目标)单词，紧随其后的是短暂呈现并掩盖的单词或部分单词“质数”，这样它们就不会到达意识中。读者在公开回应目标时是有时间限制的。它还包括呈现与单词相似的非单词，并再次测量单词/非单词辨别任务中的潜伏期。通过更好地了解这一竞争过程，我们希望能够为理解奠定更好的基础：a)成年人的正常阅读，b)如何最好地教孩子阅读，以及c)如何最好地补救阅读障碍者的阅读困难。

SUMMARY      One principle virtually all theories of skilled reading share is that word identification is a competitive process. That is, when a word is first viewed, the mental representation for it as well as those for similarly spelled words start to become active. If the system is flawless, in time the mental representation of the appropriate word will inhibit those of the inappropriate words and become the only one remaining active.        The purpose of this proposal is to continue my examination of the processes by which the appropriate word representation wins this competition. One major question is how to define "similarly spelled words". Most theories assume that the mental representation for TRAIT would become momentarily active when reading TRAIL (a one-letter substitution), however, what about the word TRIAL. What about RAIL, etc.? Recent results in my lab suggest that the mental representations that initially become active is a much larger set than most theories suggest, implying that the competitive process is also more complicated than originally thought.      The means for examining these ideas involves presenting single (target) words on a computer screen following word or partial word "primes" that are presented briefly and masked so that they don't reach consciousness. Readers are timed while they overtly respond to the targets. It also involves presenting nonwords that resemble words and, again, measuring latencies in a word/nonword discrimination task. By gaining a better understanding of this competitive process, we hope to be able to lay down a better foundation for understanding: a) normal reading in adults, b) how best to teach children to read and c) how best to remediate reading difficulties in reading disabled individuals.