Chapter 8: Word Recognition

8.1 A Connected Lexicon

• Evidence for partial retrieval of related words
• Competition from partially activated words
• Building a model of word recognition
• Box 8.1: Controlling for factors that affect the speed of word recognition
• Probing the model’s assumptions
• Method 8.1: Using the lexical decision task
• Box 8.2: Words: All in the mind, or in the body too?
• 8.1 Questions to Contemplate

8.2 Ambiguity

• A multiplicity of meanings
• Box 8.3: Why do languages tolerate ambiguity?
• Evidence for the simultaneous activation of word meanings
• Researchers at Work 8.1: Evidence for the activation of “sunken meanings”
• Language at Large 8.1: The persuasive power of word associations
• 8.2 Questions to Contemplate

8.3 Recognizing Spoken Words in Real Time

• The flow of spoken words
• Evidence for the activation of multiple cohort candidates
• How important are the left edges of words?
• Box 8.4: Do bilingual people keep their languages separate?
• Box 8.5: Word recognition in signed languages
• 8.3 Questions to Contemplate

8.4 Reading Written Words

• Word recognition in spoken and written modalities
• Diversity in writing systems
• Box 8.6: Do different writing systems engage the brain differently?
• Alphabetic irregularities
• Language at Large 8.2: Should English spelling be reformed?
• Two systems for reading, or one?
• 8.4 Questions to Contemplate
• Digging Deeper: The great modular-versus-interactive debate

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