Constraints on computational models of basic processes in reading

There are numerous reports in the visual word recognition literature that the joint effects of various factors are additive on reaction time. A central claim by D. C. Plant and J. R. Booth (2000, 2006) is that their parallel distributed processing model simulates additive effects of stimulus quality and word frequency in the context of lexical decision. If correct, this success would have important implications for computational accounts of reading processes. However, the results of further simulations with this model undermine this claim given that the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency yield a nonmonotonic function (underadditivity, additivity, and overadditivity) depending on the size of the stimulus quality effect, whereas skilled readers yield additivity more broadly. The implications of these results both locally and more globally are discussed, and a number of other issues are noted, Additivity of factor effects constitutes a benchmark that computational accounts should strive to meet.