Abstract
The development of automatic word recognition as a function of reading skill was investigated in three experiments using the Stroop task. Reading skill level ranged from nonreaders to readers above the sixth-grade equivalent. Interference with color naming begins to emerge early in the process of learning to read, increases, and then subsequently decreases. Strings of identical letters delayed color naming for children just beginning to learn to read. The interference from words, presumably reflecting semantic processing, began developing early but did not peak until the second- to fourth-grade reading levels. These different sequences of development of interference in the various stimulus conditions suggest that word recognition is the result of a number of component processes that develop as children acquire skill in reading.
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This research was supported by National Institute of Education Grants G-77-0010 and G-78-0179 to the first author and by the University of Kansas Graduate Research Fund. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the National Institute of Education, and no official endorsement by the National Institute of Education should be inferred.
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Schadler, M., Thissen, D.M. The development of automatic word recognition and reading skill. Mem Cogn 9, 132–141 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202327
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202327