Kessler, Brett, Rebecca Treiman & John Mullennix. 2008. Feedback-consistency effects in single-word reading. In Elena L. Grigorenko & Adam J. Naples (eds.), Single-word reading: Behavioral and biological perspectives, 159−174. New York, NY: Erlbaum.
The goal of this chapter is to examine one of the most intriguing claims that has been made during the past decade of research in single-word reading—the idea that feedback consistency influences fluent adults’ performance. It has been reported in several studies (Lacruz & Folk, 2004; Perry, 2003; Stone, Vanhoy, & Van Orden, 1997; Ziegler, Montant, & Jacobs, 1997) that adults are slowed when reading a word like hurl because other words that hurl rhymes with, such as girl and pearl, have different spellings of the same rhyme. This effect is surprising, because inconsistency in the sound-to-letter direction, something that might logically make writing difficult, would seem to play no necessary role in reading, which involves mapping letters to sounds. We begin this chapter by reviewing the literature on the feedback consistency effect, pointing out some methodological problems in several of the studies that have argued for its existence. We then report new analyses designed to determine whether feedback consistency has a reliable effect on the speed with which people read individual words.
Abbreviations used in the data files:
| bigrams | the text frequency of the two-letter sequences in the word, from Solso & Juel, 1980 (transformation takes square root) |
| cd... | The coda of the syllable: any and all consonants that follow the vowel |
| cdPFr | Coda pronunciation frequency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same pronunciation of the coda, regardless of spelling (transformation takes square root) |
| cdPLen | Coda pronunciation length: the number of phonemes in the coda |
| cdRCn | Coda feedforward consistency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose coda is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by cdWFr (transformation takes square root) |
| cdWCn | Coda feedback consistency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose coda is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by cdPFr (transformation takes square root) |
| cdWFr | Coda written frequency: The sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same spelling of the coda, regardless of pronunciation (transformation takes square root) |
| cdWLen | Coda written length: the number of letters used to spell the coda |
| Cn | Consistency variables (cover term) (transformation takes square root) |
| const | Constant term in linear regression formula |
| ELP | Data from the English Lexicon Project |
| elpErr | Self-reported error rates in ELP |
| elpRsd | Residual response times in ELP study (milliseconds) |
| elpRT | Naming response times in ELP |
| fam | Word familiarity, from Nusbaum, Pisoni, & Davis, 1984 |
| Fr | Frequency variables (cover terms for variables that measure the frequency of the spelling or pronunciation in a part of the word) (transformation takes square root) |
| freq | Frequency from the corpus of Zeno, Ivenz, Millard, & Duvvuri, 1995 (transformation adds 1 and takes the log) |
| hd... | The head of the syllable: vowel with all preceding consonants |
| hdPFr | Head pronunciation frequency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same pronunciation of the head, regardless of spelling (transformation takes square root) |
| hdRCn | Head feedforward consistency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose head is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by hdWFr (transformation takes square root) |
| hdWCn | Head feedback consistency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose head is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by hdPFr (transformation takes square root) |
| hdWFr | Head written frequency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same spelling of the head, regardless of pronunciation (transformation takes square root) |
| hdWLen | Head written length: The number of letters used to spell the head |
| head | The phonetic head of the word, using the same scheme as in
pronunc |
| img | Imageability, from Cortese & Fugett, 2004 |
| KTM | Data from the study of Kessler, Treiman, & Mullennix, 2002 |
| ktmErr | Error rates in KTM study (proportions) |
| ktmRT | Naming response times in KTM study (milliseconds) |
| ktmRsd | Residual response times in KTM study (milliseconds) |
| Len | Length variables (cover term) |
| nabrSiz | Spelling neighborhood size, often called Coltheart’s N (Coltheart, Davelaar, Jonasson, & Besner, 1977): the number of words in a collegiate lexicon that differ from the word in question by exactly one letter (transformation takes square root) |
| on... | The onset of the syllable: any and all consonants preceding the vowel |
| onPFr | Onset pronunciation frequency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same pronunciation of the onset, regardless of spelling (transformation takes square root) |
| onPLen | Onset pronunciation length: the number of phonemes in the onset |
| onRCn | Onset feedforward consistency: The sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose onset is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by onWFr (transformation takes square root) |
| onWCn | Onset feedback consistency: The sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose onset is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by onPFr (transformation takes square root) |
| onWFr | Onset written frequency: The sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same spelling of the onset, regardless of pronunciation (transformation takes square root) |
| onWLen | Onset written length: The number of letters used to spell the onset |
| pronunc | Pronunciation (uses a nonstandard variant of IPA) |
| rm... | The rhyme of the syllable: the vowel with any following consonants |
| rmPFr | Rhyme pronunciation frequency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same pronunciation of the rhyme, regardless of spelling (transformation takes square root) |
| rmRCn | Rhyme feedforward consistency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose rhyme is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by rmWFr (transformation takes square root) |
| rmWCn | Rhyme feedback consistency: The sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose rhyme is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by rmPFr (transformation takes square root) |
| rmWFr | Rhyme written frequency: The sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same spelling of the rhyme, regardless of pronunciation (transformation takes square root) |
| rmWLen | Rhyme written length: The number of letters used to spell the rhyme |
| SB | Data from the study of Spieler & Balota, 1997 |
| sbErr | Self-reported error rates in SB study (proportions) |
| sbRsd | Residual response times in SB study (milliseconds) |
| sbRT | Naming response times in SB study |
| SW | Data from the study of Seidenberg & Waters, 1989 |
| swErr | Error rates in SW study (proportions) |
| swRsd | Residual response times in SW study (milliseconds) |
| swRT | Naming response times in SW study (milliseconds) |
| vw... | The vowel of the syllable |
| vwPFr | Vowel the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same pronunciation of the vowel, regardless of spelling (transformation takes square root) |
| vwRCn | Vowel feedforward consistency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose vowel is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by vwWFr (transformation takes square root) |
| vwWCn | Vowel feedback consistency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list whose vowel is spelled the same and has the same pronunciation, divided by vwPFr (transformation takes square root) |
| vwWFr | Vowel written frequency: the sum of the natural log of the frequencies (per Zeno et al.) of all words in the Kessler & Treiman, 2001), list that have the same spelling of the vowel, regardless of pronunciation (transformation takes square root) |
| vwWLen | Vowel written length: The number of letters used to spell the vowel |
Pronunciation key:
| a | ant |
| A | odd |
| b | boy |
| c | orb |
| C | oil |
| d | dive |
| D | jeer |
| e | ace |
| E | ebb |
| f | fog |
| g | good |
| G | bring |
| h | hide |
| i | eel |
| j | young |
| k | kid |
| l | long |
| m | main |
| n | need |
| o | old |
| p | pie |
| q | thump |
| Q | their |
| r | read |
| R | bird |
| s | soap |
| S | shout |
| t | toe |
| T | chain |
| u | ooze |
| U | pull |
| v | vie |
| w | wide |
| W | out |
| y | ibb |
| Y | ice |
| z | zoo |
| Z | rouge |
Kessler, B., Treiman, R., & Mullennix, J. (2008). Feedback-consistency effects in single-word reading. In E. L. Grigorenko & A. J. Naples (Eds.), Single-word reading: Behavioral and biological perspectives (pp. 159−174). New York, NY: Erlbaum.
Last change 2009-08-06T09:13:28-0500