ABSTRACT
In studying any behaviour, an initial critical step is to operationalize the targeted behaviour. In the present case, the targeted behaviour is performance on simple word-recognition tasks such as lexical decision and speeded word naming. At one level, this behaviour is deceptively simple to understand. Adult readers have intimate knowledge of this acquired skill. However, as shown in this volume, the processes involved in visual word-recognition tasks are remarkably complex. This should not be surprising because experimental psychologists have been working on this topic for well over 100 years (Cattell, 1890). We believe that at least some of the complexities and controversies in this area are due to a lack of agreement in the theoretical assumptions regarding the targeted behaviour, the specific tasks used to study the behaviour, and the analytic methods used to measure the processes underlying this behaviour. In this chapter, our mission is to attempt to elucidate some of these theoretical assumptions and the methodological approaches to studying word recognition. We will use the influence of meaning on standard word-recognition tasks to guide our discussion, because the theoretical and methodological assumptions are nicely unearthed by considering the influence of this variable.
