Modulation of regularity and lexicality effects in reading aloud.

We examined the question of whether the sizes of the regularity and lexicality effects in naming can be modulated as a function of filler type (nonwords or low-frequency exception words). The lexicality effect was larger in the exception word filler condition than in the nonword filler condition, but the size of the regularity effect was essentially unaffected by filler type. This pattern is at odds with what is generally assumed to be the predictions from dual-route theories of reading aloud. An attempt was next made to determine whether the dual-route cascaded model of Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, and Ziegler (2001) could possibly simulate this pattern when changes were introduced to each of the three parameters that affect the contribution of the nonlexical route. We discuss the implications of these results for the idea that reliance on the lexical and nonlexical routes is under strategic control.