Top-down influences on crowding: The word superiority effect and attentional cuing

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dc.contributor.advisorDannemiller, James L.
dc.creatorBoyer, Jennifer
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-03T18:32:03Z
dc.date.available2018-12-03T18:32:03Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.description.abstractThe goal of the current studies was to examine the influence of top-down mechanisms on the crowding effect. Crowding refers to the reduced ability to identify an object, typically a letter, when other objects in the periphery surround it spatially. We used crowding as a tool to examine the semantic contribution to word superiority effect and investigate the role that attentional cuing plays in both the crowding effect and the word superiority effect. In Experiments 2 and 3, we used a secondary task of either a lexical decision task or an additional letter identification task to assess priming from related crowded items, and found that semantics do not play a role in the word superiority effect. By controlling for letter sequence familiarity we found that words and pronounceable non-words produced comparable priming effects, suggesting that the word superiority effect results from pattern familiarity. In Experiments 4 and 5, we examined whether attentional cuing of crowded stimuli produces target enhancement, distracter suppression effects, or both. We found that neither endogenous nor exogenous cues produced distracter suppressions effects, but there was evidence for signal enhancement effects especially with word stimuli. The evidence suggests that exogenously and endogenously orienting attention interact with the word superiority effect such that they enhance the effect of context for words, but do so in different ways.
dc.format.extent167 pp
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS PSYCH. 2009 BOYER
dc.identifier.citationBoyer, Jennifer. "Top-down influences on crowding: The word superiority effect and attentional cuing." (2008) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103636">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103636</a>.
dc.identifier.digital304532556
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/103636
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectLinguistics
dc.subjectCognitive psychology
dc.subjectCognition & reasoning
dc.subjectPsychology
dc.subjectLanguage, literature and linguistics
dc.subjectAttention
dc.subjectAttentional cuing
dc.subjectCrowding effect
dc.subjectCuing Word superiority effect
dc.titleTop-down influences on crowding: The word superiority effect and attentional cuing
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentPsychology
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy
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