Ellis A W, Brooks J, Lavidor M
Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK.
Neuropsychologia. 2005;43(8):1128-37. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.11.022. Epub 2005 Jan 16.
Two experiments are reported exploring the effect of cAsE aLtErNaTiOn on lexical decisions to words and nonwords presented laterally or centrally. In line with previous research, Experiment 1 found that case alternation slowed lexical decision responses to words more in the right visual field (RVF) than in the left visual field (LVF). In Experiment 2, the words and nonwords were all presented centrally. There were three conditions, a condition in which the word and nonwords were presented in lower case letters, a condition in which the letters to the left of the central fixation were case alternated (e.g., aMbItion, mOdLants) and a condition in which the letters to the right of fixation were case alternated (e.g., collApSe, pireNtOl). Alternating the case of letters to the right of fixation slowed lexical decision responses more than alternating letter case to the left of fixation. The results provide further support for a split fovea account of visual word recognition according to which those letters of a centrally-fixated word that fall to the left of fixation are processed initially by the right cerebral hemisphere while those letters that fall to the right of fixation are processed initially by the left cerebral hemisphere, with the characteristics of the left and right hemispheres being revealed in the processing of initial and final letters in centrally presented words.
本文报告了两项实验，探究大小写交替对单词及非单词在呈现于视野左侧或中心时进行词汇判断的影响。与先前研究一致，实验1发现，大小写交替对右视野（RVF）中单词的词汇判断反应的延缓作用大于左视野（LVF）。在实验2中，单词和非单词均呈现于视野中心。实验设置了三种条件：一种是单词和非单词均以小写字母呈现；一种是中心注视点左侧的字母进行大小写交替（如aMbItion、mOdLants）；另一种是中心注视点右侧的字母进行大小写交替（如collApSe、pireNtOl）。注视点右侧字母的大小写交替比注视点左侧字母的大小写交替对词汇判断反应的延缓作用更大。这些结果为视觉单词识别的中央凹分裂理论提供了进一步支持，该理论认为，对于中心注视的单词，位于注视点左侧的字母最初由右半球处理，而位于注视点右侧的字母最初由左半球处理，左右半球的特点在中心呈现单词的首字母和末字母处理过程中得以体现。
