Visual similarity effects in the identification of Arabic letters: evidence with masked priming
Research using masked priming and parafoveal preview techniques has shown that visual letter similarity has an impact on word processing during the initial stages in Latin-derived scripts. However, these effects appear to be absent in Arabic. One reason for this discrepancy could be attributed to th...
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| Format: | Article |
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Cambridge University Press
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Language and Cognition |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1866980824000206/type/journal_article |
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| author | Maryam A. AlJassmi Manuel Perea |
| author_facet | Maryam A. AlJassmi Manuel Perea |
| author_sort | Maryam A. AlJassmi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research using masked priming and parafoveal preview techniques has shown that visual letter similarity has an impact on word processing during the initial stages in Latin-derived scripts. However, these effects appear to be absent in Arabic. One reason for this discrepancy could be attributed to the distinctive features of the Arabic script, which includes numerous letters sharing a basic form while varying in the location or number of diacritics. To shed light on this issue, the present study employed Arabic letters rather than words in two masked priming experiments: an alphabetic decision task and a letter-matching task. Both experiments showed that visually similar letters were more effective as primes than visually dissimilar letters. These findings suggest that the processes of letter identification in Arabic and Latin scripts may be roughly alike, implying that differences in visual letter similarity across scripts may arise at later stages of processing. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0d0008a6d8804801ac9f2f8d3ac0120e |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1866-9808 1866-9859 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Language and Cognition |
| spelling | doaj-art-0d0008a6d8804801ac9f2f8d3ac0120e2025-08-20T02:36:03ZengCambridge University PressLanguage and Cognition1866-98081866-98592024-12-01161618163810.1017/langcog.2024.20Visual similarity effects in the identification of Arabic letters: evidence with masked primingMaryam A. AlJassmi0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6371-3911Manuel Perea1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3291-1365Department of Cognitive Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, UAE School of Psychology and Vision Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK Department of Psychology, Zayed University, Dubai, UAEDepartment of Methodology and ERI-Lectura, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain Centro de Investigación Nebrija en Cognición (CINC), Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, SpainResearch using masked priming and parafoveal preview techniques has shown that visual letter similarity has an impact on word processing during the initial stages in Latin-derived scripts. However, these effects appear to be absent in Arabic. One reason for this discrepancy could be attributed to the distinctive features of the Arabic script, which includes numerous letters sharing a basic form while varying in the location or number of diacritics. To shed light on this issue, the present study employed Arabic letters rather than words in two masked priming experiments: an alphabetic decision task and a letter-matching task. Both experiments showed that visually similar letters were more effective as primes than visually dissimilar letters. These findings suggest that the processes of letter identification in Arabic and Latin scripts may be roughly alike, implying that differences in visual letter similarity across scripts may arise at later stages of processing.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1866980824000206/type/journal_articleArabic readingletter encodingmasked primingvisual similarity |
| spellingShingle | Maryam A. AlJassmi Manuel Perea Visual similarity effects in the identification of Arabic letters: evidence with masked priming Language and Cognition Arabic reading letter encoding masked priming visual similarity |
| title | Visual similarity effects in the identification of Arabic letters: evidence with masked priming |
| title_full | Visual similarity effects in the identification of Arabic letters: evidence with masked priming |
| title_fullStr | Visual similarity effects in the identification of Arabic letters: evidence with masked priming |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visual similarity effects in the identification of Arabic letters: evidence with masked priming |
| title_short | Visual similarity effects in the identification of Arabic letters: evidence with masked priming |
| title_sort | visual similarity effects in the identification of arabic letters evidence with masked priming |
| topic | Arabic reading letter encoding masked priming visual similarity |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1866980824000206/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT maryamaaljassmi visualsimilarityeffectsintheidentificationofarabiclettersevidencewithmaskedpriming AT manuelperea visualsimilarityeffectsintheidentificationofarabiclettersevidencewithmaskedpriming |