The Effect of the Continuity Principle of Gestalt on Korean Word Recognition

초록

Some orthographic factors have been shown to affect the early stage of word recognition. This study was conducted to investigate whether the continuity principle of Gestalt can affect the processing of words in lexical decision tasks. The special properties of Korean Hangul were examined as the directions of letters and syllables can be manipulated. The results showed that words are processed faster when the directions of its letters and syllables are identical than they are when the directions are not identical. This result indicates that the Gestalt principle affecting perceptual organizations also plays a role in the early stage of word recognitions. Lexical access seems to be based on certain perceptual factors, including the Gestalt principle, as well as some linguistic factors.

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