| The purpose of this dissertation was to assess the relationship between unconscious word analysis capabilities and reading skill. Early in reading development, many reading processes require effort, and only after extensive practice do they become automatic. This study assessed the relationship between automatic activation of meaning using an unconscious priming paradigm and reading skill in individuals with varying degrees of reading ability. Thirty-one skilled native English readers and 32 less skilled readers (23 non-native English readers and nine dyslexic readers) completed two unconscious priming experiments using verbal and pictorial stimuli. On each trial, a masked prime word or picture was briefly displayed. After a short delay, the target word or picture followed. The participants' instructed task was to classify target stimuli as representing living or non-living objects. Priming took the form of lower error rates for congruent pairs than incongruent pairs. Measures of direct perception for both word and picture primes were also completed. Finally, participants completed a series of reading skill measures. In accordance with automaticity theory in reading skill development, differential unconscious priming for word and picture stimuli was predicted across the three groups. Results from the word and picture priming tasks indicated large automatic analysis from word and picture stimuli in skilled readers. For the non-native English readers, automatic access of verbal information was attenuated, but intact for pictorial stimuli. Additionally, more automatic analysis of word meaning occurred in the more skilled second language readers than for the less proficient readers. For the reading disabled participant group, substantial difficulties automatically extracting information from briefly presented stimuli were observed, particularly for verbal information. This result was partially consistent with both the phonological deficit model and the visual transient model of reading disorders. |
