The research proposed in this project will add to existing knowledge of disorders of word recognition in patients with focal strokes. It will use the information obtained to better understand the nature of the normal word recognition process and the neural basis for word recognition. The research will deal with both auditory and visual modalities of word presentation. In each modality, it will utilize a variety of experimental protocols to identify deficits affecting the activation of specific levels of lexical structure. These levels include: (1) the constituent units of word-forms (phonemes, syllables, letters, and letter sequences); (2) word forms themselves; and (3) word meanings. Tasks that require both explicit and implicit processing will be used to test for the integrity of components of the word recognition system, and to explore the relationship between disorders that arise at these levels of processing. The patterns of performance in patients will serve to test and modify models of the normal word recognition process. The location of the processors involved in the word recognition process will be sought by correlating deficits in these processors (identified in this project) with neural lesions (identified in project 4). The research will contribute to our understanding of the word recognition process and its disorders, and may provide tests useful in diagnosing patients with these impairments.
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