• On the spatial limits of paral...

Treffer: On the spatial limits of parallel word processing in reading.

Title:
On the spatial limits of parallel word processing in reading.
Authors:
Mlinarič M; Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.mlinaric@vu.nl., Los SA; Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands., Snell J; Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Source:
Attention, perception & psychophysics [Atten Percept Psychophys] 2025 Jul; Vol. 87 (5), pp. 1704-1716. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Jun 05.
Publication Type:
Journal Article
Language:
English
Journal Info:
Publisher: Springer Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101495384 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1943-393X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19433921 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Atten Percept Psychophys Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s):
Publication: 2011- : New York : Springer
Original Publication: Austin, Tex. : Psychonomic Society
MeSH Terms:
Reading* , Pattern Recognition, Visual* , Attention* , Orientation* , Semantics*, Humans ; Reaction Time ; Young Adult ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Recognition, Psychology ; Decision Making
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Contributed Indexing:
Keywords: Attention; Reading; Word recognition
Entry Date(s):
Date Created: 20250605 Date Completed: 20250627 Latest Revision: 20250630
Update Code:
20250630
PubMed Central ID:
PMC12205018
DOI:
10.3758/s13414-025-03101-x
PMID:
40474050
Database:
MEDLINE

Weitere Informationen

Various models of reading assume that information from up to five words is processed in parallel. Although there is evidence that foveal words can be processed simultaneously with directly adjacent words, it remains to be seen whether three words is the limit. To empirically test this, we designed a lexical decision flanker task with three flankers on each side of the target. In two experiments (offline (N = 49) and online (N = 98)), target words were either orthographically unrelated to all flankers or repeated in one out of six flanker positions. Stimuli were briefly presented, allowing us to assume that flanker effects, if any, would stem from simultaneous rather than sequential processing of the target and flankers. We observed flanker effects for flankers immediately adjacent to the target word. However, the relatedness of flankers in more remote positions did not impact recognition of the target. Our results suggest that word processing occurs for approximately three words in parallel, which is more than what some theories (e.g., E-Z Reader, Chinese Reading Model) suggest, but less than what some other theories (e.g., Glenmore, OB1-reader) suggest.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)

Declarations. Conflicts of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Ethics approval: The study was approved by the Ethics committee of the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent to participate: Participants gave their informed consent to participate prior to participating in the study. Consent for publication: Participants gave their informed consent to make their results available to third parties in anonymous form prior to the start of the study.