Abstract
The brain generates predictions about visual word forms to support efficient reading. The “interactive account” suggests that the predictions in visual word processing can be strategic or automatic (non-strategic). Strategic predictions are frequently demonstrated in studies that manipulated task demands, however, few studies have investigated automatic predictions. Orthographic knowledge varies greatly among individuals and it offers a unique opportunity in revealing automatic predictions. The present study grouped the participants by level of orthographic knowledge and recorded EEGs in a non-linguistic color matching task. The visual word-selective N170 response was much stronger to pseudo than to real characters in participants with low orthographic knowledge, but not in those with high orthographic knowledge. Previous work on predictive coding has demonstrated that N170 is a good index for prediction errors, i.e., the mismatches between predictions and visual inputs. The present findings provide unambiguous evidence that automatic predictions modulate the early stage of visual word processing.
Highlights
IntroductionEfficient processing of written words is crucial to reading, a cognitive ability humans need in daily living
The present study examined automatic predictions in visual word processing with a group of skilled Chinese adult readers
We examined the rate in correctly reporting real characters but found no between-group difference, t(1,45) = 0.51, p = 0.61, Cohen’s d = 0.37
Summary
Efficient processing of written words is crucial to reading, a cognitive ability humans need in daily living. The brain receives bottom-up visual inputs and generates top-down predictions that help to resolve the conflicts between visual inputs and internal lexical knowledge (Price and Devlin, 2011). Following the predictive coding theory (Hinton, 2007; Friston, 2010), Price and Devlin (2011) suggested the ventral occipitotemporal area (vOT) as a bridge that connects bottom-up visual inputs, i.e., written words, and top-down predictions, i.e., priori associations between visual inputs and phonology and semantics (McCandliss et al, 2003; Devlin et al, 2006; Reinke et al, 2008; Woodhead et al, 2011). N170 is the first negative ERP component recorded at posterior electrodes. It arises from the occipitotemporal area and it has been used to index neural activation in vOT (Rossion et al, 2003; Brem et al, 2009). Recognized as an electrophysiological marker of orthographic processing, the N170 component is stronger in response to words than to non-words (e.g., Maurer et al, 2005; Zhao et al, 2012; Eberhard-Moscicka et al, 2015)
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