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Effect of Letter Order on Word Recognition. Matt Moore and Sarah Pollom Hanover College. Original Cambridge Study.
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Effect of Letter Order on Word Recognition Matt Moore and Sarah Pollom Hanover College
Original Cambridge Study Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
What is known… • If first and last letter are in correct order it does not affect our comprehension of a word • We do not read every letter of a word • Exterior letters serving as visual cues • Masking and Swapping • (McCusker, Gough, & Bias, 1981; Rawlinson, 1976) • Jumbled words • i.e. hatospil, inmcoes, pintaet • (Oliver, Healy, & Mross, 2005)
Research Objective • First, we are testing whether or not both the first and lest letter play a role in word recognition. • Second, we are testing whether the first or last letter plays a more significant role in word recognition.
Design • 2 x 4 repeated-measures design • Two independent variables • Congruency • Letter Order
Hypotheses • Congruency • Faster reaction times for congruent versus incongruent conditions • Letter order • Normal and first and last letter in correct order will produce the fastest reaction times • First letter only and last letter only in correct order will produce the slower reaction times
Method • Participants • 23 undergraduate students • 65% female, 35% male • 100% Caucasian • Range in age from 18-22 years old • All claimed to be color normal
Materials • Gateway computers w/ 14-inch LCD monitors • Operated by Windows XP • Java 2 program • Accessed through Internet Explorer • Entitled the Stroop Experiment • http://psych.hanover.edu/classes/Cognition/psy333.html
Stimuli • 8 different stimuli • Congruent or Incongruent • Correct letter order, first and last in correct order, first letter only in correct order, last letter only in correct order • Black background • Central word orientation • 16-point font size • Using yellow, orange, purple as the colors
Stimulus One Congruent and correct letter order
Stimulus Two Incongruent and correct letter order
Stimulus Three Congruent and first and last letter in correct order
Stimulus Four Incongruent and first and last letter in correct order
Stimulus Five Congruent and first letter in correct order
Stimulus Six Incongruent and first letter in correct order
Stimulus Seven Congruent and last letter in correct order
Stimulus Eight Incongruent and last letter in correct order
Procedure • Participants completed all eight conditions (in any order) • Using the following settings: • 25 Trials • Responding to the color by pressing the relevant buttons at the bottom of the screen or by pressing the following keys: y for yellow, p for purple, and o for orange. (rework)
Results Congruency F (1,22) = 40.381, p = 0.0 No main effect of letter order Interaction F (3,66) = 3.722, p = 0.016
Discussion • Our hypothesis supported the original Cambridge study. • Our hypothesis did not support the (Oliver et al, 2005) study. • First letter only or last letter only did not have slower reaction times • Letters not really jumbled/lack of sensitivity • Can’t really make another word out of the colors (Andrews, 1996)
Limitations • Effect of Practice • Completed 8 conditions (knew to only look at color) • Some participants had more familiarity with Stroop Effect • Faulty Reaction Times
References • Andrew, S. (1996). Lexical retrieval and selection processes: Effects of transposed-letter confusability. Journal of Memory and Language, 35(6), 775-800. • McCusker, L., Gough, P., & Bias, R. (1981). Word recognition inside out and outside in. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 7(3), 538-551. • Oliver, W., Healy, A., & Mross, E. (2005). Trade-offs in detecting letters and comprehending text. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59(3), 159-167. • Rawlinson, G.E. (1976). The significance of letter position in word recognition. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Psychology Department, University of Nottingham, Nottingham UK.