Visual Arabic Word Recognition during Subliminal and Supraliminal Presentations: A Lexical Decision Study in Normal and Disabled Readers

Shaden Shuhaiber Rizik,Asaid Khateb,Alan J Pegna

doi:10.4236/ojml.2021.113028

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing visual word recognition in normal skilled (NRs) and disabled adult Arabic readers (DRs) using masked subliminal and supraliminal word presentations in a lexical decision task (LDT). The main assumption of this investigation was that, as a consequence of their reading disability, DRs would exhibit slower reaction times (RTs) and lower performance than NR in the supraliminal condition. By contrast, since words identified subliminally are thought to occur thanks to advanced orthographic (not phonological skills), it was assumed that this presentation mode would diminish the differences between DRs and NRs. RTs and d’ detection measures were analyzed in 59 NRs and 21 DRs who had to decide whether visually presented letter strings corresponded to real Arabic words or to pseudowords. The statistical analyses conducted on RTs and d’ showed that, although both groups showed a lexicality effect (faster RTs for words than for pseudowords), the DRs compared to NRs showed longer RTs and lower detection measures in the supraliminal mode. Importantly, in the subliminal mode, no group effect was found in terms of RTs and the size of the difference between groups in terms of detection decreased. Also, in this latter presentation condition, we observed that the lexicality effect was significant in the DRs but not in the NRs. These findings are discussed in relation to other studies indicating that DRs might have benefited from good orthographic skills, on which they rely to compensate for their phonological deficits.

Highlights

In our daily life we encounter endless experiences and challenges that bombard us with subliminal effects, which can change consciously or unconsciously the course of our stream of thoughts and in doing so affect our behavior
It shows that mixing two conditions (X and Y in doublechoice reaction time task (DRT)) caused similar costs to both groups. This observation was confirmed by a 2 × 3 repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) performed on the individual median reaction times (RTs) using group as between participants’ factor (NR vs. disabled adult Arabic readers (DRs)) and stimulus (X symbol in simple reaction time task (SRT), X and Y symbols in DRT) as within subject factors
This was due to the fact that responses to X and Y in the DRT yielded a lower accuracy than X in the SRT, and Y yielded lower accuracy than X in the DRT (p < 0.002) (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

In our daily life we encounter endless experiences and challenges that bombard us with subliminal effects, which can change consciously or unconsciously the course of our stream of thoughts and in doing so affect our behavior. Subliminal processing Cognitive psychology has addressed unconscious perceptual processing using a number of different paradigms, one being “Subliminal Perception”. In this approach, information is presented beneath or slightly below the threshold of perceptual detection, so as to impede conscious processing (Cleeremans & McClelland, 1991). This technique, previously described by Enns and Di Lollo (2000), ensures a reduction in the visibility of the stimulus when it is preceded or followed by the presentation of another stimulus to be detected. It has been suggested that conscious decisions are affected by nonconscious processes and that such effects can be observed after delays of at least 25 minutes (Ruch et al, 2016), indicating a considerable longevity of the phenomenon on intentional behavior and decision-making

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