Effects of presentation style on the Author Recognition Task

Undergraduates: Liz Reeder, Jennifer Arnold

Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Arnold
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Spoken and written language differ in both production and comprehension; to study natural spoken language determining the influence of written language is essential. The Author Recognition Task (ART) is a measure of an individual's exposure to printed language and fulfills this role quickly and objectively. Developed in 1989 by Stanovich and West, the task asks participants to distinguish between authors and non-authors and penalizes the final score for false-identifications; this method evades social desireability. In research this measure has been presented in serialized and list views, but the reasoning behind this differentiation is unclear and unstudied. This study seeks to determine which presentation style best reflects the individual's true reading exposure. Additionally, this study will investigate item selection and use in the measure.

Results of the first experiment demonstrate no difference in final score of the ART. Participants select fewer correct and incorrect items in list view, however the higher correct selections in serial view is offset by the more numerous incorrect selections, bringing the final score of both presentations to be equal. A second experiment in this study is currently underway to parse the interactions of the first study. Additionally, the first study demonstrates that reading exposure is not correlated with socioeconomic status, as previously suggested in the literature.