Pseudohomophone effects in lexical decision: Still a challenge for currentword recognition models

Computational models that implement a serial mechanism of phonological asse mbly predict interactions between the size of the pseudohomophone (PsH) eff ect and stimulus length. Models with frequency-sensitive word representatio ns predict baseword frequency effects. These predictions were tested in a l exical-decision task. The results showed constant PsH effects across differ ent word lengths (in favor of parallel phonological activation) and basewor d frequency effects (in favor of frequency-sensitive representations), Howe ver, the baseword frequency effect was opposite of what the models predicte d. This result is most easily accommodated by models that assume an orthogr aphic verification mechanism. The plausibility of such a mechanism was furt her supported by the results of 2 additional experiments investigating the effects of response speed and spelling probability (feedback consistency) o n the size of the PsH effect.