Phonological Recoding in Lexical Decision at Recognition Threshold

Abstract

The phonological recoding model of lexical access was tested in two experiments. In Experiment 1, college students were presented words and nonwords at recognition threshold for lexical decision. Nonwords homophonous with real words (homophonous nonwords) and nonwords nonhomophonous with real words (nonhomophonous nonwords) were used. The phonological recoding model predicts more errors on homophonous nonwords as a result of false matches in the subjects' internal lexicons. Blocks of items with homophonous nonwords led to significantly poorer performance as measured by percent correct and d'. Experiment 2 was a replication of Experiment 1 with the addition of a spelling test to eliminate poor spellers. The d' measure again supported the phonological recoding model. These data were compared to those of Stanovich and Bauer (1978) which led to a conclusion against phonological recoding. This discrepancy was considered in light of the task differences, and the presence of a mask was thought to be important. The possible masking effect of successive fixations in reading was considered.

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