Word recognition
Word recognition, according to Literacy Information and Communication System is "the ability of a reader to recognize written words correctly and virtually effortlessly". It is sometimes referred to as "isolated word recognition" because it involves a reader's ability to recognize words individually from a list without needing similar words for contextual help. LINCS continues to say that "rapid and effortless word recognition is the main component of fluent reading" and explains that these skills can be improved by "practic with flashcards, lists, and word grids".
In her 1990 review of the science of learning to read, psychologist Marilyn Jager Adams wrote that "the single immutable and nonoptional fact about skilful reading is that it involves relatively complete processing of the individual letters of print." The article "The Science of Word Recognition" says that "evidence from the last 20 years of work in cognitive psychology indicates that we use the letters within a word to recognize a word". Over time, other theories have been put forth proposing the mechanisms by which words are recognized in isolation, yet with both speed and accuracy. These theories focus more on the significance of individual letters and letter-shape recognition. Other factors such as saccadic eye movements and the linear relationship between letters also affect the way we recognize words.
An article in ScienceDaily suggests that "early word recognition is key to lifelong reading skills". There are different ways to develop these skills. For example, creating flash cards for words that appear at a high frequency is considered a tool for overcoming dyslexia. It has been argued that prosody, the patterns of rhythm and sound used in poetry, can improve word recognition.
Word recognition is a manner of reading based upon the immediate perception of what word a familiar grouping of letters represents. This process exists in opposition to phonetics and word analysis, as a different method of recognizing and verbalizing visual language. Word recognition functions primarily on automaticity. On the other hand, phonetics and word analysis rely on the basis of cognitively applying learned grammatical rules for the blending of letters, sounds, graphemes, and morphemes.
Word recognition is measured as a matter of speed, such that a word with a high level of recognition is read faster than a novel one. This manner of testing suggests that comprehension of the meaning of the words being read is not required, but rather the ability to recognize them in a way that allows proper pronunciation. Therefore, context is unimportant, and word recognition is often assessed with words presented in isolation in formats such as flash cards Nevertheless, ease in word recognition, as in fluency, enables proficiency that fosters comprehension of the text being read.
The intrinsic value of word recognition may be obvious due to the prevalence of literacy in modern society. However, its role may be less conspicuous in the areas of literacy learning, second-language learning, and developmental delays in reading. As word recognition is better understood, more reliable and efficient forms of teaching may be discovered for both children and adult learners of first-language literacy. Such information may also benefit second-language learners with acquisition of novel words and letter characters. Furthermore, a better understanding of the processes involved in word recognition may enable more specific treatments for individuals with reading disabilities.
Theories
Bouma shape
Bouma shape, named after the Dutch vision researcher Herman Bouma, refers to the overall outline, or shape, of a word. Herman Bouma discussed the role of "global word shape" in his word recognition experiment conducted in 1973. Theories of bouma shape became popular in word recognition, suggesting people recognize words from the shape the letters make in a group relative to each other. This contrasts the idea that letters are read individually. Instead, via prior exposure, people become familiar with outlines, and thereby recognize them the next time they are presented with the same word, or bouma.The slower pace with which people read words written entirely in upper-case, or with alternating upper- and lower-case letters, supports the bouma theory. The theory holds that a novel bouma shape created by changing the lower-case letters to upper-case hinders a person's recall ability. James Cattell also supported this theory through his study, which gave evidence for an effect he called word superiority. This referred to the improved ability of people to deduce letters if the letters were presented within a word, rather than a mix of random letters. Furthermore, multiple studies have demonstrated that readers are less likely to notice misspelled words with a similar bouma shape than misspelled words with a different bouma shape.
Though these effects have been consistently replicated, many of their findings have been contested. Some have suggested that the reading ability of upper-case words is due to the amount of practice a person has with them. People who practice become faster at reading upper-case words, countering the importance of the bouma. Additionally, the word superiority effect might result from familiarity with phonetic combinations of letters, rather than the outlines of words, according to psychologists James McClelland and James Johnson.
Parallel recognition vs. serial recognition
Parallel letter recognition is the most widely accepted model of word recognition by psychologists today. In this model, all letters within a group are perceived simultaneously for word recognition. In contrast, the serial recognition model proposes that letters are recognized individually, one by one, before being integrated for word recognition. It predicts that single letters are identified faster and more accurately than many letters together, as in a word. However, this model was rejected because it cannot explain the word superiority effect, which states that readers can identify letters more quickly and accurately in the context of a word rather than in isolation.Neural networks
A more modern approach to word recognition has been based on recent research on neuron functioning. The visual aspects of a word, such as horizontal and vertical lines or curves, are thought to activate word-recognizing receptors. From those receptors, neural signals are sent to either excite or inhibit connections to other words in a person's memory. The words with characters that match the visual representation of the observed word receive excitatory signals. As the mind further processes the appearance of the word, inhibitory signals simultaneously reduce activation to words in one's memory with a dissimilar appearance. This neural strengthening of connections to relevant letters and words, as well as the simultaneous weakening of associations with irrelevant ones, eventually activates the correct word as part of word recognition in the neural network.Physiological background
The brain
Using positron emission tomography scans and event-related potentials, researchers have located two separate areas in the fusiform gyrus that respond specifically to strings of letters. The posterior fusiform gyrus responds to words and non-words, regardless of their semantic context. The anterior fusiform gyrus is affected by the semantic context, and whether letter combinations are words or pseudowords. This role of the anterior fusiform gyrus may correlate to higher processing of the word's concept and meaning. Both these regions are distinct from areas that respond to other types of complex stimuli, such as faces or colored patterns, and are part of a functionally specialized ventral pathway. Within 100 milliseconds of fixating on a word, an area of the left inferotemporal cortex processes its surface structure. Semantic information begins to be processed after 150 ms and shows widely distributed cortical network activation. After 200 ms, the integration of the different kinds of information occurs.The accuracy with which readers recognize words depends on the area of the retina that is stimulated. Reading in English selectively trains specific regions of the left hemiretina for processing this type of visual information, making this part of the visual field optimal for word recognition. As words drift from this optimal area, word recognition accuracy declines. Because of this training, effective neural organization develops in the corresponding left cerebral hemisphere.