Project FrameWord
Word Recognition from a Frame and Fill Perspective: Unraveling the Impact of Spatial Frequency Processing and Prediction Generation on Reading Proficiency
The aim of the project FrameWord is to investigate whether mechanisms that were described for visual object recognition – namely, neuronal top-down processing – also apply for visual word recognition.
There are several reasons for why some people can read faster and more accurately than others. Among other factors, differences in attention allocation, working memory or phonological processing but also in visual processing were shown to explain variance in reading proficiency. Based on a model of visual object recognition, which assumes a facilitation of object recognition modulated by top-down-processes, it will be investigated whether coarse contours of a word can be used to generate predictions about a word identity. The model’s presumption is that the generated predictions reduce the number of possible word identities and thus facilitate and accelerate the actual recognition process. Of particular interest is whether the investigated neuronal processes of top-down-processing can explain individual differences in word recognition speed and accuracy. For this reason behavioral data, electroencephalography (EEG) data and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data will be collected.
Selected publications
Korinth, S. P., Sommer, W., & Breznitz, Z. (2012). Does silent reading speed in normal adult readers depend on early visual processes? Evidence from event-related brain potentials. Brain and Language, 120(1), 15–26.
Korinth, S. P., Sommer, W., & Breznitz, Z. (2013). Neuronal response specificity as a marker of reading proficiency: Two-fold nature of the N170 revealed after massive repetition. NeuroReport, 24(2), 96–100.
Korinth, S. P., & Breznitz, Z. (2014). Fast and slow readers of the Hebrew language show divergence in brain response ∼200 ms post stimulus: An ERP study. PLoS ONE, 9(7).
Funding
