Two experiments examined whether text composition engages verbal, visual, and spatial working memory to different degrees. In Experiment 1, undergraduate students composed by longhand a persuasive text while performing a verbal, visual, or spatial concurrent task that was presented visually. In Experiment 2, participants performed a verbal or…

Presents a new method that can compare lexical priming (word-word) and sentential priming (sentence-word) directly within a single paradigm. Shows that it can be used to address modular theories of word comprehension, which propose that the effects of sentence context occur after lexical access has taken place. (Author/VWL)

In two experiments, poor and normal Dutch readers, matched for reading age, were presented with visual matching tasks on a computer screen. In the first experiment, word and pseudoword letter strings were used. Poor readers needed more time to decode uppercase/lowercase pairs, especially when the pairs consisted of pseudowords. Experiment 2…

Focuses on the importance of phonology in establishing orthographic representations. In normal readers, phonological and orthographic representations of words are so closely connected that they are usually coactivated, whereas in dyslexics, this connection is less strong, so that orthographic representations interfere less with phonemic…

Examines a task that can be applied in a uniform fashion across different languages to compare levels of vocabulary development in foreign-language learning. Results indicate that the lexical decision task can be a useful tool for the assessment and cross-linguistic comparison of lexical development in foreign-language learning. (37 references)…