Automaticity of phonological and semantic processing during visual word recognition

Abstract

A B S T R A C TReading involves activation of phonological and semantic knowledge. Yet, the automaticity of the activation of these representations remains subject to debate. The present study addressed this issue by examining how different brain areas involved in language processing responded to a manipulation of bottom-up (level of visibility) and top-down information (task demands) applied to written words. The analyses showed that the same brain areas were activated in response to written words whether the task was symbol detection, rime detection, or semantic judgment. This network included posterior, temporal and prefrontal regions, which clearly suggests the involvement of orthographic, semantic and phonological/articulatory processing in all tasks. However, we also found interactions between task and stimulus visibility, which reflected the fact that the strength of the neural responses to written words in several high-level language areas varied across tasks. Together, our findings suggest that the involvement of phonological and semantic processing in reading is supported by two complementary mechanisms. First, an automatic mechanism that results from a taskindependent spread of activation throughout a network in which orthography is linked to phonology and semantics. Second, a mechanism that further fine-tunes the sensitivity of high-level language areas to the sensory input in a task-dependent manner.

Automaticity in the reading circuitry

“…These models posit that literacy involves automatizing the connections between orthographic (visual), phonological and semantic codes in the brain. Consistent with the prediction of these models, adult skilled readers show activation in canonical language processing areas such as the left inferior frontal gyrus (i.e., Broca's area) and supeior temporal cortex (i.e., Wernicke's area) in response to visually-presented words regardless of whether or not the task requires them to actively read the words (Kiefer and Martens, 2010;Klein et al, 2015;Mechelli et al, 2005;Van Orden, 1987;Pattamadilok et al, 2017;Paulesu et al, 2001;Price, 2012;Turkeltaub et al, 2003;Wilson et al, 2004). Furthermore, there is ample behavioral evidence suggesting automatic involvement of phonological processing in response to printed words (Dennis and Newstead, 1981;Frost, 1998;Perfetti and Bell, 1991;Perfetti et al, 1988;Stroop, 1935).…”

Neural correlates of the lexicality effect in children

“…While lexical decision tasks tend to increase engagement of semantic and ortho-lexical processing mechanisms, naming tasks tend to increase engagement of spelling to sound mapping mechanisms (Carreiras, Mechelli, Estévez, & Price, 2007; McNorgan et al, 2015). The current study incorporated a phonological rhyming judgment task that is likely to enhance engagement of spelling to sound mapping mechanisms for both words and pseudowords (Pattamadilok et al, 2017). Using a single task that focuses on the conversion of orthography to phonology enables us to examine the lexicality effect on these mechanisms with no explicit requirement to access meaning-based representations (Booth & Burman, 2005).…”

Automatic Detection of Cognitive Impairments through Acoustic Analysis of Speech

“…Reading tasks involves simultaneous processing of orthographic, phonological, and semantic information, thus have been widely used to evaluate language function in individuals with MCI and AD [ 21 , 22 ]. In this study, we adopted the following four sentence reading tasks to measure cognitive impairments: a) Vowel utterances b) Tongue twister c) Diadochokinesis d) Short sentences (see Appendix A ).…”