THE EFFECTS OF EXPERTISE AND SENTENCE FORM ON READING RATE AND VOCALIZATION LATENCY (TECHNICAL LANGUAGE, PRIMING)

Two experiments were carried out to test the effects of knowledgeability and technical vocabulary on processing speed for sentences from familiar and unfamiliar technical domains. Using a priming paradigm, reading rate for sentence stems and vocalization latencies for target words that followed the stems were obtained for technically worded and simplified sentences.;For both groups of experts, knowledgeability played a greater role than vocabulary in sentence processing speed. Familiar sentences were processed faster than unfamiliar sentences regardless of the wording. Knowledgeability also interacted with vocabulary. Familiar technical sentences were processed at the same rate as familiar simplified sentences while unfamiliar simplified sentences were processed faster than unfamiliar technical sentences. The results are interpreted as supporting spreading activation models of memory organization and retrieval.;In the first experiment, biochemists' reading rate and vocalization latencies were compared for familiar (biochemistry) technical and simplified sentences, unfamiliar (psychopathology) technical and simplified sentences and general expository sentences. In the second experiment, the relationship of distances within semantic networks to processing speed was explored by obtaining vocalization latencies for target words that followed related, neutral, and unrelated sentence stems with familiar (psychopathology) and unfamiliar (biochemistry) content. Clinical psychologists were subjects.