Abstract
The role of attention in visual word recognition and reading aloud is a long debated issue. Studies of both developmental and acquired reading disorders provide growing evidence that spatial attention is critically involved in word reading, in particular for the phonological decoding of unfamiliar letter strings. However, studies on healthy participants have produced contrasting results. The aim of this study was to investigate how the allocation of spatial attention may influence the perception of letter strings in skilled readers. High frequency words (HFWs), low frequency words and pseudowords were briefly and parafoveally presented either in the left or the right visual field. Attentional allocation was modulated by the presentation of a spatial cue before the target string. Accuracy in reporting the target string was modulated by the spatial cue but this effect varied with the type of string. For unfamiliar strings, processing was facilitated when attention was focused on the string location and hindered when it was diverted from the target. This finding is consistent the assumptions of the CDP+ model of reading aloud, as well as with familiarity sensitivity models that argue for a flexible use of attention according with the specific requirements of the string. Moreover, we found that processing of HFWs was facilitated by an extra-large focus of attention. The latter result is consistent with the hypothesis that a broad distribution of attention is the default mode during reading of familiar words because it might optimally engage the broad receptive fields of the highest detectors in the hierarchical system for visual word recognition.
Highlights
Visuo-spatial attention is likely to be engaged at many levels of the process of recognizing printed word (McCandliss et al, 2003), but despite many studies investigating this issue the literature does not offer a clear and uncontroversial picture
Accuracy in reporting the target string was modulated by the spatial cue but this effect varied with the type of string
We review below the previous literature and present a new study examining the involvement of spatial attention in visual word perception, how the latter is modulated by focusing attention on the target stimulus
Summary
Visuo-spatial attention is likely to be engaged at many levels of the process of recognizing printed word (McCandliss et al, 2003), but despite many studies investigating this issue the literature does not offer a clear and uncontroversial picture. Several different manipulations of attention have been used to investigate whether word processing is automatic or whether it requires some engagement of attention and, in the latter circumstance, what kind of reading sub-processes consume attention resources. We review below the previous literature and present a new study examining the involvement of spatial attention in visual word perception, how the latter is modulated by focusing attention on the target stimulus. Automatic word processing in Stroop tasks can be moderated by attentional manipulations, as shown by the finding that focusing spatial attention on a single letter of the word can reduce the magnitude of the Stroop effect (e.g., Stolz and Besner, 1999; see Lachter et al, 2004, 2008)
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