Automatic and attentional processes in word recognition : a comparison of the two-process and the two-strategy view

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to examine the patterns of facilitation and interference in the lexical decision task with respect to two important variables: the time course of processing and list context. Two current models of word recognition, the two-process view and the two-strategy view, make specific predictions with respect to each variable. The two-process view emphasizes the time course of processing and the two strategy view emphasizes the effect of list context. The present study was designed to reconcile these two view. The effects of list predictability (high and low) and stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) (short and long) on lexical decision times to related, neutral and unrelated prime-target trials were examined. Lists of high and low predictability were generated by using category-exemplar pairs of either high or varying typicality. The results are consistent with automatic processing in short SOA conditions and strategic processing in long SOA conditions.