AUTOMATIC LEXICAL ACCESS IN CHILDREN - NEW EVIDENCE FROM MASKED IDENTITY-PRIMING

Previous research suggests that the visual encoding of words is defici ent in children as compared to adults. It further suggests that childr en rely more heavily on context as a means of compensating for weaker encoding skills. This study sought to directly test the encoding skill s, a process also known as automatic lexical access, by comparing the performance of 4th-grade readers with adults. In contrast to previous studies, however, a masking procedure was combined with the lexical de cision task to assess identity priming, e.g. [dog]-DOG. Adults were fa ster in all conditions, but the masked-priming effect was the same in adults and children, a result that does not support previous contentio ns that visual encoding is slower in younger/less skilled readers. We conclude, therefore, that not only is visual encoding comparable in ch ildren and adults but also the greater context effects seen in childre n are not due to visual encoding deficiencies. (C) 1994 Academic Press , Inc.