Model-generated lexical activity predicts graded ERP amplitudes in lexical decision

Recent neurocognitive studies of visual word recognition provide information about neuronal networks correlated with processes involved in lexical access and their time course (e.g., [Holcomb, Ph.J., Grainger J. and O'Rourke, T. (2002). An Electrophysiological Study of the Effects of Orthographic Neighborhood Size on Printed Word Perception, J. of Cogn. Neurosci. 14 938–950; Binder, J.R., McKiernan, K.A., Parsons, M.E., Westbury, C.F., Possing, E.T., Kaufman, J.N. and Buchanan, L. (2003). Neural Correlates of Lexical Access during Visual Word Recognition, J. Cogn. Neurosci. 15 372–393.]). These studies relate the orthographic neighborhood density of letter strings to the amount of global lexical activity in the brain, generated by a hypothetical mental lexicon as speculated in an early paper by [Jacobs, A.M. and Carr, T.H. (1995). Mind mappers and cognitive modelers: Toward cross-fertilization, Behav. Brain. Sci. 18 362–363]. The present study uses model-generated stimuli theoretically eliciting graded global lexical activity and relates this activity to activation of lexical processing networks using event-related potentials (ERPs). The results from a lexical decision task provide evidence for an effect of lexicality around 350 ms post-stimulus and also a graded effect of global lexical activity for nonwords around 500 ms post-stimulus. The data are interpreted as reflecting two different decision processes: an identification process based on local lexical activity underlying the ‘yes’ response to words and a temporal deadline process underlying the ‘no’ response to nonwords based on global lexical activity.