ABSTRACT
The joint effects of pattern dIsToRtIoN and word frequency were examined in the context of both lexical decision and speeded naming tasks. Predictions as to how performance would vary as a function of these factors were derived from four classes of visual word identification models: pattern analysing, criterion bias, serial search, and verification. The results were inconsistent with important aspects of all of the models. A framework which takes as its basic premise a distinction between word recognition and word identification is more successful in accounting for these as well as other results. Several distinct loci for word frequency effects in visual word identification, recognition, and production are proposed.
