Abstract
The aim of the present study was to explore the central (e.g., lexical processing) and peripheral processes (motor preparation and execution) underlying word production during typewriting. To do so, we tested non-professional typers in a picture typing task while continuously recording EEG. Participants were instructed to write (by means of a standard keyboard) the corresponding name for a given picture. The lexical frequency of the words was manipulated: half of the picture names were of high-frequency while the remaining were of low-frequency. Different measures were obtained: (1) first keystroke latency and (2) keystroke latency of the subsequent letters and duration of the word. Moreover, ERPs locked to the onset of the picture presentation were analyzed to explore the temporal course of word frequency in typewriting. The results showed an effect of word frequency for the first keystroke latency but not for the duration of the word or the speed to which letter were typed (interstroke intervals). The electrophysiological results showed the expected ERP frequency effect at posterior sites: amplitudes for low-frequency words were more positive than those for high-frequency words. However, relative to previous evidence in the spoken modality, the frequency effect appeared in a later time-window. These results demonstrate two marked differences in the processing dynamics underpinning typing compared to speaking: First, central processing dynamics between speaking and typing differ already in the manner that words are accessed; second, central processing differences in typing, unlike speaking, do not cascade to peripheral processes involved in response execution.
Highlights
In the last decades, typewriting (e.g., e-mailing, social networks) has become a fundamental tool for our personal and professional communication in daily life, especially in industrial societies
These results demonstrate two marked differences in the processing dynamics underpinning typing compared to speaking: First, central processing dynamics between speaking and typing differ already in the manner that words are accessed; second, central processing differences in typing, unlike speaking, do not cascade to peripheral processes involved in response execution
Our research aims to contribute to these two central issues in the field of written production by exploring: (1) the electrophysiological correlates of lexical processing within the central stages of typewriting, which will allow us to compare the temporal dynamics of written production with that in the spoken modality, and (2) whether lexical variables known to affect central stages during written production will influence peripheral motor processes
Summary
In the last decades, typewriting (e.g., e-mailing, social networks) has become a fundamental tool for our personal and professional communication in daily life, especially in industrial societies. Writing a word (as well as verbally producing it) requires the involvement of both central-cognitive and peripheral-motor processes (e.g., Margolin, 1984). Response latencies, which are considered to reflect central processing, are sensitive to semantic, lexical, and orthographic manipulations (Bonin and Fayol, 2000, 2002; Bonin and Meot, 2002; Bonin et al, 2002, 2012). The peripheral processes, on the other hand, are those processes responsible for the engagement of the specific motor plans needed to execute the letters in the desired output modality (e.g., handwriting, typewriting) (see, Purcell et al, 2011). Response durations (and interkeystroke intervals in typewriting) have been taken as reflecting operations at more peripheral levels of processing (e.g., Delattre et al, 2006)
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