Target letter inclusion in single and multiple word substrings and identification accuracy.

ABSTRACT

In experiment 1, target letter discrimination in quadrigrams containing multiple subwords was found to be no more accurate than target letter discrimination in strings of four unrelated letters. Discrimination in quadrigrams, each including the target letter and a one-word trigram of which the target was not a part, was significantly poorer than discrimination in either of the other two types. In Experiment 2, a possible explanation of the latter result involving capacity limitations was eliminated by presenting the target above or below the other letters, which were presented in the same order as in corresponding strings in Experiment 1. The results are explained with respect to the interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception, with a modification proposed involving inhibitory connections between word nodes.