Serial Order in Reading Aloud: Connectionist Models and Neighborhood Structure

Dual-Route and Connectionist Single-Route models of reading have been at odds over claims as to the correct explanation of the reading process. Recent Dual-Route models predict that subjects should show an increased naming latency for irregular words when the irregularity is earlier in the word (e.g. chef is slower than glow)-a prediction that has been connrmed in human experiments. Since this would appear to be an eeect of the left-to-right reading process, Coltheart & Rastle (1994) claim that Single-Route parallel connec-tionist models cannot account for it. A refutation of this claim is presented here, consisting of network models which do show the interaction, along with orthographic neighborhood statistics that explain the eeect.