Defining the WSE
The Word Superiority Effect proves we recognize a letter more accurately when it is part of a real word than when it is part of a random string of ___ letters.
What are consonant letters?
To make sure you don't keep "seeing" the word after it disappears, researchers use this visual "noise" immediately after the stimulus.
What is a mask?
The PDP model suggests our brain is made of a network of these, which can be "excited" or "inhibited."
What are nodes?
This effect explains why we recognize a word faster when it is in a meaningful sentence than when it is alone.
What is the Word-in-a-sentence effect?
Sarah recognizes the 'n' in 'ant' faster than the 'n' in 'pnt.' This is because her brain used ___ to boost her perception.
What is context or top-down processing?
This effect is a classic example of this "concept-driven" type of processing.
What is Top-Down Processing?
In this famous 1969 study, participants had to choose between two letters, which is called a ___ task.
What is a forced-choice task?
When you see a word, the "Word Level" sends ___ activation back down to the "Letter Level."
What is excitatory or top-down?
In the Rueckl & Oden experiment, a "lion tamer" was more likely to see the word "bears" than this word.
What is beans?
If you see the letter "Q" but your brain "fills in" a "U" because it's part of the word "QUEEN," which process is failing?
What is Bottom-Up processing?
According to the WSE, you would identify the "P" in "APPLE" faster than the "P" in "PXQLE."
What is True?
If we only used Bottom-Up processing, which condition would actually be the easiest?
What is the single-letter condition?
This specific level of the PDP model identifies the horizontal, vertical, and slanted lines of a letter.
What is the Feature Level?
This phenomenon describes how we "fill in" missing sounds in a spoken sentence, similar to how we fill in letters in a word.
What is Phonemic Restoration?
This Matlin Theme states that cognitive processes handle positive information better than negative; it applies to reading because we recognize what is there faster than what isn't
What is Theme 3
This effect is considered a paradox because logic suggests identifying a ___ stimulus should be easier than identifying a complex one.
What is a single or simpler stimulus?
The exposure time for the words in this experiment is usually less than 50 ___, making it too fast for the eyes to move.
What are milliseconds?
Because processing happens at all levels (feature, letter, word) at the exact same time, it is called ___ processing.
What is parallel?
Because our brains are so good at the Word Superiority Effect, we often fail to see these in our own writing.
What are typos or misspellings?
You are proofreading a paper and miss the word "the" spelled as "teh." This is an error of ___ processing
What is Top-Down?
The "Superiority" in the name refers to the fact that ___ provides a processing advantage for individual parts.
What is context?
Reicher found that even a "pseudo-word" like "MAMP" shows some advantage over "MPAM" because it follows the rules of ___.
What is English orthography or pronounceability?
If a "Word Node" is activated, it will ___ (turn off) the nodes for letters that don't belong in that word.
What is inhibit?
Matlin uses this two-word term to describe how our top-down expectations lead us to the correct conclusion despite messy input.
What are Smart Mistakes?
Recognition of the "whole" before the "parts" is a core belief of this psychological school, which heavily influenced Chapter 2
What is Gestalt Psychology?