Abstract
We report the case of a youngster who has not learned to name correctly all of the letters of the alphabet, but who nonetheless can do cross-case matching (Posner’s name-matching task) of all the letters, entirely without error. This result suggests that the development of cross-case matching abilities in normal subjects may also proceed without reference to a letter identification process based upon a phonological code.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Adams, M. J. (1979). Models of word recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 133–176.
Allport, D. A. (1979). Word recognition in reading: A tutorial review. In P. A. Kolers, H. Bouma, & M. Wrolstad (Eds.), Processing of visible language (Vol. 1). New York: Plenum Press.
Besner, D. (1983). Basic decoding components in reading: Two dissociable feature extraction processes. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 37, 429–438.
Besner, D., Coltheart, M., & Davelaar, E. (1984). Basic processes in reading: Computation of abstract letter identities. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 38, 126–134.
Besner, D., Davelaar, E., Alcott, D., & Parry, P. (1984). Wholistic reading of alphabetic print: Evidence from the FBI and the FDM. In L. Henderson (Ed.), Orthographies and reading: Perspectives from cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and linguistics. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Boles, D. B., & Eveland, D. C. (1983). Visual and phonetic codes and the process of generation in letter matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 9, 657–674.
Coltheart, M. (1981). Disorders of reading and their implications for models of normal reading. Visible Language, 15, 245–286.
Evett, L. J., & Humphreys, G. W. (1981). The use of abstract graphemic information in lexical access. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 33A, 325–350.
Henderson, L. (1982). Orthography and word recognition in reading. New York: Academic Press.
Johnston, J. C. (1981). Understanding word perception: Clues from studying the word superiority effect. In O. J. L. Tzeng & H. Singer (Eds.), Perception of print: Reading research in experimental psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
McClelland, J. L. (1976). Preliminary letter identification in the perception of words and nonwords. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 2, 80–91.
McClelland, J. L., & Rumelhart, D. E. (1981). An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: Part I. An account of basic findings. Psychological Review, 88, 375–407.
Paap, K. R., Newsome, S. L., & Noel, R. W. (1984). Word shapes in poor shape for the race to the lexicon. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 10, 413–428.
Posner, M. I. (1969). Abstraction and the process of recognition. In G. Bower & J. T. Spence (Eds.), Psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 3). New York: Academic Press.
Posner, M. I. (1970). On the relationship between letter names and superordinate categories. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 22, 279–287.
Posner, M. I. (1972). Coordination of internal codes. In W. G. Chase (Ed.), Visual information processing. New York: Academic Press.
Posner, M. I. (1975). The temporal course of pattern recognition in the human brain. In C. F. Inbar (Ed.), Signal analysis and pattern recognition in bio-medical engineering. Tel Aviv: Israel Universities Press.
Posner, M. I. (1978). Chronometric explorations of mind. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Posner, M. I. (1982, November 29). Current Contents, p. 18.
Posner, M. I., Boies, S. J., Eichelman, W. H., & Taylor, R. L. (1969). Retention of visual and name codes of single letters. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 79, 1–16.
Posner, M. I., & Keele, S. W. (1967). Decay of information from a single letter. Science, 158, 137–139.
Posner, M. I., Lewis, J., & Conrad, C. (1972). Component processes in reading: A performance analysis. In J. Kavanagh & I. Mattingly (Eds.), Language by eye and by ear. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Posner, M. I., & Mitchell, R. F. (1967). Chronometric analysis of classification. Psychological Review, 74, 392–409.
Posner, M. I., & Taylor, R. L. (1969). Subtractive method applied to separation of visual and name components of multiletter arrays. Acta Psychologia, 30, 104–114.
Saffran, E. M. (1980). Reading in deep dyslexia is not ideographic. Neuropsychologia, 18, 219–223.
Well, A. D., & Pollatsek, A. (1981). Word processing in reading: A commentary on the papers. Visible Language, 15 (3, Part 2).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by Grant A0998 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to Derek Besner and an undergraduate summer research fellowship award from NSERC to Dave Rynard.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rynard, D., Besner, D. Basic processes in reading: On the development of cross-case letter matching without reference to phonology. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 25, 361–363 (1987). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330367
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330367