Previous studies of the effects of word characteristics on word recognition have used orthogonal combinations of word variables and have failed to consider individual differences. The present study examined word naming (Experiment 1) and lexical decision (Experiment 2) tasksusing an unrestricted set of words and a correlational analysis. Individual differences were considered using a measure of the subjects' knowledge of the English vocabulary. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that log (RT) for word naming is affected by word length, word frequency, and the number of syllables in the word; the results of Experiment 2 confirmed the effects of length and frequency but also showed that log (RT) is a function of the age at which the word is introduced to a child's reading vocabulary. Subjects with a high vocabulary score were more rapid in Experiment 1 but were slower in Experiment 2, compared to subjects with a low vocabulary score. More importantly, high-vocabulary subjects, in both studies, were less affected by word length than the low-vocabulary subjects. The results suggest that subjects do differ in their reading strategy and that word length and word frequency may affect different stages in the word recognition process.Recent interest in the psychology of reading has spawned a number of studies that have attempted to determine the critical stimulus variables affecting word recognition. Various studies have identified three potential variables: number of syllables (e.g., Spoehr & Smith, 1973), number of letters (i.e., length) (e.g., Frederiksen & Kroll, 1976), and word frequency (e.g., Forster & Chambers, 1973). Because these variables are differentially important for various theories of reading (cf. Frederiksen & Kroll, 1976), a great deal of controversy has arisen over the relative contributions of each variable and over the way in which each affects the word recognition process.Much of the debate over these variables followed a study by Eriksen, Pollack, and Montague (1970) that suggested that recognition entailed a component of implicit speech. Eriksen et al. found that reaction time (RT) for naming a word increased as the number of syllables in the word increased. Although the effect of syllables was confounded with length of words, a similar effect was found with two-digit numbers. Eriksen et al. concluded, therefore, that implicit speech was a component in perceptual encoding, a view supported by a subsequent study (Colegate & Eriksen, 1970) This research was supported by Grant A-9581 from the National Research Council of Canada to the senior author. Experiment 1 formed part of a BA honors thesis submitted to Queen's University by the junior author. Both 68showing that the number of geometrie forms reported from a brief display depended on the number of syllables in the name assigned to each form. The effect with digits was confirmed by Klapp (1971), who demonstrated a syllable effect on RT when subjects had to compare two sets of two-digit numbers without overtly naming the digits.Subsequent s...

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A patterned masking stimulus was presented immediately following a 100-ms exposure of a centrally-fixated, eight-letter row. The bar-marker probe, indicating which letter to report, appeared either at onset (simultaneous cue), or at offset (delayed cue) of a letter row. A selective-masking effect—greater masking at the centre positions than at the ends of a row—was obtained with the delayed cue. With the simultaneous cue, all positions were masked and there was no selective-masking effect. These results indicate that the effects of a patterned masking stimulus are dependent upon the processing strategy, and they support previous interpretations of selective masking which state that it is produced by an ends-first processing strategy.

The limitations of current forms of prostate cancer therapy have driven researchers to search for new alternatives. Previously we showed cytopathic effect related to HSV-tk in prostate cancer. In this study we present initial results of a neoadjuvant HSV-tk gene therapy trial and address some of the potential mechanistic aspects of its effect in human tissues. We enrolled 23 men with clinically localized prostate cancer but high risk for recurrence in this Phase I-II trial. Intraprostatic viral injections (one to four) were followed by 2 weeks of ganciclovir and prostatectomy 2-4 weeks later. Toxicity was modest. Surgical specimens were embedded fully and whole-mount slides were imaged and analyzed for areas of cytopathic effect. The larger the tumor the greater the cytopathic effect. The effect also seems to be related to areas of high CAR expression. However, the number of injection sites did not influence effect. Local (CD8+ cells and macrophages) and systemic immune response (CD8+ and activated CD8+, IL-12) was increased in patients treated with HSV-tk. Increased apoptosis and decreased microvessel density were also noted in these patients. The results suggest a tumor-specific effect mediated by systemic and local immune response, antiangiogenic effect, and modulation of apoptosis.

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