PSY 357 Finals Study Guide Questions with
Complete Solutions
Typoglycemia
the idea that the human mind processes words as a whole; Not true b/c we use top down
processing to comprehend lang using context
Experience with English
English language teaches us that only certain combo of letters can follow or proceed other
combos of letters allowing us to easier ID target letters or words
Positional constraints
prior knowledge of the order of letters in words helps you fill in the missing information
Word Superiority Effect Hypothesis
context present in the word will facilitate letter recognition, detect words easier when they are
presented as a part of words
Reicher Wheeler Paradigm
participants had the task of ID letter in cued position when presented in: isolation, words,
pseudowords, or random letter strings (nonwords)
reicher wheeler results
faster to identify letters in words/pseudowords, letters in isolation, & letters in nonwords
(slowest)
Proofreading
, we use top down processing, when editing you read your paper by what you want/think you said
instead of what you actually said
word v letter presented
Word presented: activates feature, letter, & word detectors, increasing speed of final recognition
v Letter presented: activates feature, & letter detectors = less activation
Phonological Dyslexia
difficulty reading pseudowords, short-term memory limits, low phonological awareness, slower
rapid naming
dyslexic experiment results
Dyslexic children & reading age controls show similar word superiority effects, Dyslexic
children have difficulty reading aloud pseudowords revealing impaired sub-lexical translation
Long term memory
a network of associations: words often co-occur in memory & are strongly associated, think of
one word the other is automatically triggered
Semantic memory
automatic access to word meanings, general word knowledge, & factual info v episodic memory-
personal memories of events
Semantic networks
our knowledge is organized in this way, array of nodes representing concepts & links that
transmit activation btw nodes
Complete Solutions
Typoglycemia
the idea that the human mind processes words as a whole; Not true b/c we use top down
processing to comprehend lang using context
Experience with English
English language teaches us that only certain combo of letters can follow or proceed other
combos of letters allowing us to easier ID target letters or words
Positional constraints
prior knowledge of the order of letters in words helps you fill in the missing information
Word Superiority Effect Hypothesis
context present in the word will facilitate letter recognition, detect words easier when they are
presented as a part of words
Reicher Wheeler Paradigm
participants had the task of ID letter in cued position when presented in: isolation, words,
pseudowords, or random letter strings (nonwords)
reicher wheeler results
faster to identify letters in words/pseudowords, letters in isolation, & letters in nonwords
(slowest)
Proofreading
, we use top down processing, when editing you read your paper by what you want/think you said
instead of what you actually said
word v letter presented
Word presented: activates feature, letter, & word detectors, increasing speed of final recognition
v Letter presented: activates feature, & letter detectors = less activation
Phonological Dyslexia
difficulty reading pseudowords, short-term memory limits, low phonological awareness, slower
rapid naming
dyslexic experiment results
Dyslexic children & reading age controls show similar word superiority effects, Dyslexic
children have difficulty reading aloud pseudowords revealing impaired sub-lexical translation
Long term memory
a network of associations: words often co-occur in memory & are strongly associated, think of
one word the other is automatically triggered
Semantic memory
automatic access to word meanings, general word knowledge, & factual info v episodic memory-
personal memories of events
Semantic networks
our knowledge is organized in this way, array of nodes representing concepts & links that
transmit activation btw nodes
