Letter-case Similarity and Backward Pattern Masking Modulate
Form-specific Priming in the Cerebral Hemispheres
Chad J. Marsolek, Brian C. Ecker, Brendan J. Ewald, Erin L. Stoltz,
Michele E. Wright, & Christopher D. Nicholas
(Presented at the 36 Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Los
Angeles, CA, November 1995)
Abstract
Properties of relatively independent abstract and specific visual-form
subsystems were illuminated. Participants completed laterally presented
word stems after viewing centrally presented same or different letter
case. Case-specific priming was found following right- but not
left-hemisphere presentations, an effect modulated by whether stems had
high (e.g., SCO/sco) or low (e.g., BEA/bea) case-similarity letters and
whether stems were backward pattern masked. Case-specific cued recall
was affected additionally by encoding task (conceptual verses
non-conceptual).