Theories of auditory word recognition posit multiple stages of mental representation to describe the transformation of speech into words; the final stage is the lexicon, whose operation and functions differ across theories. The proposed research examines three issues concerning the function of the lexicon in word recognition, testing predictions of classes of theories that are divided on each issue: (1) whether or not lexical knowledge is used to facilitate speech perception; (2) which portion of a spoken word first makes contact with its representation in the lexicon; (3) the process by which a lexical entry is selected that best matches the speech signal. Experimental manipulations are designed to reveal the operation of the lexicon. Stimuli will consist of words and sentences, and the acoustic, phonological, and semantic characteristics of words will be varied. Multiple experimental tasks, such as phoneme monitoring, phoneme identification, and cross-modal priming, will be used to probe processing at different stages in the recognition system and to provide converging evidence on the issues that will be studied. Specialized computer hardware, software, and audio equipment will control stimulus construction, presentation and data collection. The findings should contribute to an understanding of the role of the lexicon in word recognition.
| Pitt, Mark A; Shoaf, Lisa (2002) Revisiting bias effects in word-initial phonological priming. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 28:1120-30 |
| Shoaf, Lisa Contos; Pitt, Mark A (2002) Does node stability underlie the verbal transformation effect? A test of node structure theory. Percept Psychophys 64:795-803 |
| Pitt, M A; Smith, K L; Klein, J M (1998) Syllabic effects in word processing: evidence from the structural induction paradigm. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 24:1596-611 |
| Pitt, M A (1998) Phonological processes and the perception of phonotactically illegal consonant clusters. Percept Psychophys 60:941-51 |
| Pitt, M A (1995) Data fitting and detection theory: reply to Massaro and Oden (1995). J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 21:1065-7 |
| Pitt, M A (1995) The locus of the lexical shift in phoneme identification. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 21:1037-52 |
| Pitt, M A (1995) Evidence for a central representation of instrument timbre. Percept Psychophys 57:43-55 |
