Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1984

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Abstract

Four experiments investigated the processes underlying the word superiority effect (WSE). The first experiment showed that the typical WSE would be obtained using a letter-detection paradigm which introduced a new procedure for testing sophisticated guessing. Experiment 2 demonstrated that a familiarity effect would occur with all-consonant stimuli that were lacking orthographic regularity (i.e., they did not follow rules of spelling or pronunciation). The introduction of case manipulation (alternating lower and upper case letters) affected words and pseudowords equally (Experiment 1), but had a significantly greater effect on acronyms than unrelated letter strings (Experiment 2). These results were consistent with the view that either orthographic or lexical mechanisms can produce a WSE. Experiments 3 and 4 included stimuli (e.g., COD) with both acronym and orthographic meanings. These stimuli were presented in the context of words or acronyms. Although the WSE was replicated for words and acronyms, it was not observed for the dual-meaning stimuli.

Extent

100 p.

Comments

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1984.|Charles E. Schmidt College of Science|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1984.

Identifier

FADT14213

Format

pdf

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