IS IT MISSPELLED OR IS IT MISPELLED - THE INFLUENCE OF FRESH ORTHOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ON SPELLING

The effect of exposure to incorrectly and correctly spelled words on s ubsequent spelling performance was examined as a function of spelling proficiency and of time lapse between exposure and test. Spelling accu racy was found to be respectively depressed and enhanced by such expos ure, relative to performance on unexposed control words. The effect wa s persistent and pervasive, obtaining at both immediate and one-week d elayed testing and in both good and poor spellers. The findings indica te that fresh orthographic information exerts an influence on pre-exis ting abstract orthographic representations, rather than establishing n ew episodic traces, and that this process takes place implicitly.