Semantic context effects in visual word recognition, sentence processing, and reading: evidence for semantic strategies

Abstract

Earlier research studying the effects of semantic context on single words suggested that subjects may have two strategies for using a context (Becker, 1980). The present research finds that the semantic context strategies may be used in reading short sentences. Further, individual differences in context effects both in a word-level task and in a sentence-level task are related to individual differences in reading continuous text. These results are presented within the framework of the verification model (Becker, 1976, 1980), and the implications for two-process theory (Stanovich & West, 1979, 1981) are discussed.