Reicher-(1969)

Reicher(1969):WordSuperiorityEffectDr.TimothyBenderPsychologyDepartmentMissouriStateUniversitySpringfield,MO65897Reicher(1969)exploredwhetherornotweuseparallelprocessinginthevisualsensorymemory.Hisparticipantsweretoidentifyasingleletterthatappearedinoneoffourpossiblelocations.Theletterappearedeitheralone,inafour-letterword,orinafour-letternonword.Allofthestimuliweremasked,makingitdifficulttoidentifythem.Ifweprocessthelettersinawordinaserialfashion(oneletteratatime),itshouldbemoredifficulttoidentifyaletterinawordthanthatletterbyitself.Ifweprocessthelettersinawordinparallel(allofthelettersatonce),itshouldbejustaseasytoidentifyaletterinawordasitistoidentifythatletterbyitself.ThenonwordconditionallowedReichertoseeiftherewassomethinguniqueaboutprocessingaletterinawordvs.thatletterinamixedgroupofletters.Theresultsstronglysupporttheideathatweengageinparallelprocessinginiconicmemory.However,Reicher(1969)ismostoftencitedforanadditionalinterestingresultwhichwewilldiscussafterthedemonstration.Inthisdemonstration,youwillseeaseriesof24stimuli.Thestimuliwillbeeitherafour-letterword,thesamefourlettersinamixedorder,orasingleletter.Thesingleletterwillappearinanyofthefourletterpositionsfromthewordcondition.Thestimuluswillappearforabout66millisecondsandwillbefollowedimmediatelybyapatternoflines.Alongwiththepatternmaskyouwillseeachoiceoftwolettersaboveoneofthefourletterpositions.Yourtaskistochoosewhichofthetwolettersappearedinthatlocationintheoriginalstimulus.Thefollowingisanexampleofastimulusfromthewordcondition.A+willappearfirstnearthecenterofthescreen,thenthestimulusandmaskwilloccur.Whichletter?Thefollowingisanexampleofastimulusfromthenonwordcondition.A+willappearfirstnearthecenterofthescreen,thenthestimulusandmaskwilloccur.Whichletter?Thefollowingisanexampleofastimulusfromthelettercondition.A+willappearfirstnearthecenterofthescreen,thenthestimulusandmaskwilloccur.Whichletter?Thefirststimuluswillappearonthenextslide.Youwillneedaresponsesheetwiththenumbers1-24listedinacolumn.Foreachstimulus,pleasechooseoneofthetwoletterchoices,evenifyouthinkitisjustaguess.Giveityourbestguess.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Thenextscreenisthenextstimulus.Whichletter?Youwillscoreyourperformancenext.Youwillhavethreescores,oneforeachtypeofstimulus.YouwillfirstfigureyourLettersscore.Giveyourself1pointforeachofthefollowingthatyouansweredcorrectly.2.L8.V13.G19.T6.C12.V17.Y23.DFigureoutthemeanscorefortheclass.YouwillnowfigureyourNonwordscore.Giveyourself1pointforeachofthefollowingthatyouansweredcorrectly.3.V7.Y15.D20.C4.G10.T18.L22.VFigureoutthemeanscorefortheclass.YouwillnowfigureyourWordscore.Giveyourself1pointforeachofthefollowingthatyouansweredcorrectly.1.Y9.D14.C21.V5.T11.L16.V24.GFigureoutthemeanscorefortheclass.IfyourclassperformedsimilarlytotheparticipantsinReicher(1969)youscoredbetterintheWordconditionthanineithertheNonwordorLetterconditions.Inotherwords,Reicherfoundthatitiseasiertorecognizealetterinasimplewordthanitistorecognizethatletteraloneorinanonword!ThishasbeencalledtheWordSuperiorityEffect.Ifyourclass’sdidnotshowtheWordSuperiorityEffect,donotworry.Reicher’sparticipantsperformedthetaskasindividualsinamuchbettercontrolledenvironmentthantheclassroom.Also,theywerepretestedtodeterminetheoptimalpresentationspeedforeachparticipant.OneotherdifferencebetweenthisdemonstrationandReicher’s(1969)researchisthatinadditiontothesingleword,nonword,andletterconditions,Reicherusedtwo-word,two-nonword,andtwo-lettersconditions.Inotherwords,hisparticipantshadtopayattentionto8differentpositionsonthescreenratherthanjust4.Youarestronglyencouragedtoreadtheoriginalarticleforabetterunderstandingoftheresearch.OnepopularattempttoexplaintheWordSuperiorityEffectistheinteractiveactivationmodelofMcClelland&Rumelhart(1981).Basically,theysuggestthatbothfeatureprocessingandwordprocessingprovideadditionalsupporttoletterprocessing.Therefore,whenaletterappearsinaword,theletterisrecognizedmoreeasilythanwhentheletterappearsaloneorinanonword.ReferencesMcClelland,J.L.,&Rumelhart,D.E.(1981).Aninteractiveactivationmodelofcontexteffectsinletterperception:Part1.Anaccountof