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Visual word recognition is accompanied by covert articulation: evidence for a speech-like phonological representation

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Abstract

Two lexical decision task (LDT) experiments examined whether visual word recognition involves the use of a speech-like phonological code that may be generated via covert articulation. In Experiment 1, each visual item was presented with an irrelevant spoken word (ISW) that was either phonologically identical, similar, or dissimilar to it. An ISW delayed classification of a visual word when the two were phonologically similar, and it delayed the classification of a pseudoword when it was identical to the base word from which the pseudoword was derived. In Experiment 2, a LDT was performed with and without articulatory suppression, and pseudowords consisted of regular pseudowords and pseudohomophones. Articulatory suppression decreased sound-specific ISW effects for words and regular pseudowords but not for pseudohomophones. These findings indicate that the processing of an orthographically legal letter sequence generally involves the specification of more than one sound code, one of which involves covert articulation.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by NIH grant HD043405. We would like to thank Cynthia Connine, Marianne Lloyd, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the paper. Inquiries should be directed to Brianna M. Eiter, Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY. 13902–6000, USA

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, 11549, USA

    Brianna M. Eiter

  2. State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, USA

    Albrecht W. Inhoff

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  1. Brianna M. Eiter
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  2. Albrecht W. Inhoff
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Correspondence to Brianna M. Eiter.

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Eiter, B.M., Inhoff, A.W. Visual word recognition is accompanied by covert articulation: evidence for a speech-like phonological representation. Psychological Research 72, 666–674 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-008-0166-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-008-0166-2

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