This study compares the cognitive processing of expert and novice typists, and examines how automaticity affects the level of semantic processing. Subjects typed three passages then took a recognition test. Would experts, who routinely apply automaticity while typing, do better at recognizing the sentences they typed than novices, or would novices who spend more time and effort with the text do better? Is typing mainly guided by the orthographic structure of text? Is the text mentally processed for semantic content? The results indicate that novices had slightly better recognition for the sentences they typed than experts. They were also quicker to recognize verbatim sentences and they had a higher frequency of choosing them over decoys. Novices were also better at differentiating semantically similar sentences from those that contradicted the meaning of the sentences they typed. These findings suggest that although automaticity may minimize demands on working memory, it does not necessarily lead to deeper semantic processing. Typing demands attention to the orthographic structure of the text and semantic information is processed incidentally.

This volume is segmented into four sections: historical changes in reading, processes of reading and literacy, models of reading and literacy processes, and new paradigms. The process section should assist students in understanding and visualizing the exploration of important research questions.

Addresses key issues concerning the relationship between linguistic and non-linguistic processes, which will be of great interest to researchers and students in the area of language processing.

First Published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.