Motivational influences on word recognition: IV. Cortical magnification does not explain parafoveal versus foveal differences

Abstract

In two experiments, hungry and satiated subjects were compared on word recognition for words of three types of content: food, positively emotional, or negatively emotional content. The purpose was to assess whether expanding the size of the parafoveal image would yield patterns of word processing that were similar to those obtained under foveal viewing. Words of 17-mm size were created to take cortical magnification into account. The conditions in Experiment 1 yielded overall high levels of performance, and the conditions in Experiment 2 yielded overall low levels of performance; yet, the usual foveal patterns of word recognition failed to be evident, especially with respect to motivation. In Experiment 2, highly frequent words were significantly more easily recognized than were infrequent words, but the usual facilitation of hunger (as opposed to satiation) was absent for both experiments. The data suggest that foveal and parafoveal viewing lead to two quite distinct forms of lexical processing. © 1993, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.