Speech Processes in Reading
{'Code': '04040500', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'BCS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Jasmine Young', 'PO_EMAI': 'jyoung@nsf.gov', 'PO_PHON': '7032924833'}
This project seeks to illuminate the role that implicit speech                  processes play in silent reading.  Although subvocal activity has               long been known to occur during reading, its significance and the               conditions controlling it are not well understood.  There is                    disagreement about whether this speech activity is functional or                merely a by-product of no significance.  The central assumption                 of the theory underlying this project, automatic activation                     theory, is that identification of printed words routinely causes                activation of speech segments associated with letters and with                  the words themselves.  This contrasts with the view ("dual route"               theory) that printed words are sometimes "recoded" into speech                  and at other times identified directly through the "visual                      route."  A second assumption of automatic activation theory is                  that the speech code, once activated, remains part of the mental                representation of a sentence until certain comprehension                        processes have been completed.                                                                                                                                  The two assumptions of automatic activation theory will be tested               in two types of experiments:  One type will use backward visual                 masking, an experimental procedure in which a word is flashed on                the screen for a very short period of time, followed by a brief                 flash of a "mask", a visual display that may or may not share                   specific characteristics of the word it follows.  Recent research               has found that the degree of disruption caused by a mask depends                both on the degree to which the mask shares speech segments  and                also on the degree to which the mask shares letters with the word               it masks.   The masking experiments will vary characteristics of                the word being masked that usually affect the speed at which it                 is identified; this will provide a situation in which the                       automatic activation and the dual route theories make different                 predictions.  The second kind of experiment will focus on the                   role of speech in reading by examining the visual tongue-twister                effect:  The time for silent reading of sentences that repeat                   speech segments, e.g., "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled                    peppers..", is longer than for normal sentences.  The experiments               will address whether such effects occur in extended text reading                and whether they are diminished when the reader has a goal of                   gist comprehension rather than detailed understanding, situations               for which the two theories make different predictions.                                                                                                          This research has implications for the nature of reading                        disability.  According to available evidence, it is quite likely                that some kinds of reading disability are linked to defective use               of speech segments in learning to read and in memory for                        linguistic input.  To the extent that this project sheds some                   light on normal reading processes, it may help in understanding                 the nature of the speech-related defect in some cases of                        disability.
{'FirstName': 'Charles', 'LastName': 'Perfetti', 'PI_MID_INIT': None, 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Charles Perfetti', 'EmailAddress': 'perfetti@pitt.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000311212', 'StartDate': '08/15/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'University of Pittsburgh', 'CityName': 'PITTSBURGH', 'ZipCode': '152600001', 'PhoneNumber': '4126247400', 'StreetAddress': '4200 FIFTH AVENUE', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Pennsylvania', 'StateCode': 'PA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '12', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'PA12', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'MKAGLD59JRL1', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH - OF THE COMMONWEALTH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '118000', 'Text': 'HUMAN COGNITION & PERCEPTION'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8811042.xml'}