Specialized processors subserving visual word recognition: Evidence for local control.

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Abstract
One of the assumptions inherent in a distributed processing view of cognition is that specialized processors tend to run to completion because they are autonomous rather than being immediately subject top-down constaints such as goals or intentions. Early processes in visual word recognition run to completion, even when the task is designed such that the product of these processes does nothing but interfere with performance. Subjects made same-different judgments to letter strings which were either familiar (e.g., FBI) or unfamiliar (e.g., IBF). Familiarity disrupted performance, despite the fact that the task called for a classification based solely on physical criteria. The interference effect observed in the present experiments may thus be seen as a consequence of local control and is consistent with the assumptions of modular, distributed processing.

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