Can you recognize two written words simultaneously? Updates from the field

Alex L. White, Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience & Behavior at Barnard College, Columbia University

In this abstract, many words are presented to your eyes simultaneously. Can you take advantage of that by processing multiple words in parallel? This question has been investigated with many approaches that have yielded inconsistent answers. I will summarize recent experiments that use two psychophysical paradigms to test quantitative models of parallel and serial processing. One is a “dual-task” paradigm that measures the loss of accuracy caused by dividing attention between two words when the time available for processing them is strictly controlled. The other is the redundant target paradigm, a variant of visual search that compares response times between displays that contain one target versus displays that contain two targets. Our recent findings suggest that the capacity for parallel processing of words varies across the visual field and is facilitated by linguistic context. Furthermore, there is potential for individual differences captured by these tasks to elucidate differences in reading skill.

This lecture is made possible in part by a generous endowment from Professor Allen L. Edwards

Faculty hosts: John Palmer (jpalmer@uw.edu) and Andrea Stocco (stocco@uw.edu) 
Student host: Jasmine Awad (awadj@uw.edu)

Q&A and light refreshments to follow the discussion.