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Abstract:
Most cognitive models of reading emphasize the important role
of phonological processing (e.g., sounding words out) in the
acquisition of reading skills and processing of words that do not
easily conform to typical spelling-to-sound rules. Understanding
the neural correlates of reading has been a major focus of
functional neuroimaging studies for the past decade. In this study
we collected fMR images while participants were shown genuine
English words, and two forms of pronounceable nonword letter
strings and were asked to judge the stimuli as to whether they
spelled genuine English words (Lexical Decision Task). The nonword
stimuli included pseudohomophones that sounded like English words
when pronounced (e.g., PHOCKS), and pseudowords that could not be
pronounced like English words (e.g., MUVEL). Each stimulus was
presented twice and a behavioral repetition priming effect was
observed for words and pseudohomophones. Of greater importance, we
observed activation in regions of primary auditory cortex
(Brodmann's area 41) for words and pseudohomophones, but not
pseudowords, when comparing responses to the first and second
presentation of the stimuli. The fMR activation was sensitive to
strategic factors involved in the word judgments. The results
provide strong evidence for sublexical phonological processing
during reading.
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