Abstract
Readers searching for a target letter in text are more likely to miss it in frequent function words than in less frequent content words, and the magnitude of this effect increases with age. While this increase has been taken to indicate that proficient readers process familiar words in terms of larger orthographic units, we propose that it reflects the reader's growing ability to extract the structure of text, resulting in a reduced emphasis on function than on content words. Indeed, comparing 2nd graders (7 to 7 1/2 years) and college students (Experiment 1) this increase was found even when function and content words were equated for frequency. Scrambling words within a sentence (Experiment 2) improved letter detection in function compared to content words among 7th graders (12 to 13 years) and college students, but not among 3rd graders (8 to 9 years). Although letter detection was also affected by word frequency, the age differences noted above are possibly due not to the increasing familiarity of words, but rather to the growing sensitivity to their structural role in text.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 175-198 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Journal of Experimental Child Psychology |
| Volume | 69 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 1998 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Readers searching for a target letter in text are more likely to miss it in frequent function words than in less frequent content words, and the magnitude of this effect increases with age. While this increase has been taken to indicate that proficient readers process familiar words in terms of larger orthographic units, we propose that it reflects the reader’s growing ability to extract the structure of text, resulting in a reduced emphasis on function than on content words. Indeed, comparing 2nd graders (7 to 7 1/2 years) and college students (Experiment 1) this increase was found even when function and content words were equated for frequency. Scrambling words within a sentence (Experiment 2) improved letter detection in function compared to content words among 7th graders (12 to 13 years) and college students, but not among 3rd graders (8 to 9 years). Although letter detection was also affected by word frequency, the age differences noted above are possibly due not to the increasing familiarity of words, but rather to the growing sensitivity to their structural role in text. © 1998 Academic Press This research was supported by Grant 88-00395 to Koriat and Greenberg from the United States–Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), Jerusalem, Israel. Parts of this research were also supported by a grant from the PEW foundation for research involving undergraduate students. We are grateful to parents, students, and staff, in particular teachers Jane Glassman and Joyce Vellutino, and to the administrators and teachers of the Hebrew Academy of the Capitol District for their cooperation on this project. Finally, we acknowledge the contributions of Kathleen Glastetter and Scott Mogelof for their roles in data collection and analysis Address correspondence and reprint requests to Seth N. Greenberg, Department of Psychology, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308, or to Asher Koriat, Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental and Educational Psychology