These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Word superiority over isolated letters: the neglected case of forward masking.
    Author: Jordan TR, Bevan KM.
    Journal: Mem Cognit; 1994 Mar; 22(2):133-44. PubMed ID: 8035690.
    Abstract:
    Previous research shows that when briefly presented alphabetic stimuli are followed by pattern masks, letters in words are reported more accurately than are isolated letters (the "Word-Letter Phenomenon," or WLP); however, when these masks are replaced by blank fields, the WLP disappears. These findings have led to the popular notion that the WLP reflects selective masking of ongoing stimulus processing and so critically depends on the use of poststimulus masks. Here we report three experiments which re-examine the role of masking in the WLP by contrasting the effects of postmasked displays with the effects of premasked displays in which words and isolated letters were preceded by a pattern mask and followed by a completely blank field. Despite the critical role generally assigned to poststimulus pattern masks, similar WLPs were obtained with pre- and postmasked displays. Implications for theories of word and letter recognition are discussed.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]