Imagine you just heard a new word – Gepo! But wait, is it spelled with a G or a J? Turns out, skilled readers are able to generate possible spellings in their minds for novel spoken words, even when the correct spelling is uncertain. In a study with 48 Spanish adults, they were first asked to provide their preferred spellings for these novel words. Some words had only one possible spelling (consistent), while others had two possible spellings (inconsistent). Two weeks later, the participants were trained on the pronunciations of these new words. When presented with the spellings of these trained words, along with a set of untrained words, participants read the consistent and inconsistent words faster when they were spelled according to their individual preferences. However, there were no differences in reading speeds for untrained consistent and inconsistent words. This suggests that participants had created preliminary orthographic representations (orthographic skeletons) for the trained words, even when the correct spelling was uncertain. These findings support the idea that skilled readers generate spelling expectations for spoken words based on their previous knowledge. Excitingly, this research helps us understand how our brains process and make sense of new information in written language! To dive into the details of this study, check out the full article.

Abstract
English-speaking children and adults generate orthographic skeletons (i.e., preliminary orthographic representations) solely from aural exposure to novel words. The present study examined whether skilled readers generate orthographic skeletons for all novel words they learn or do so only when the words have a unique possible spelling. To that end, 48 Spanish adults first provided their preferred spellings for all novel words that were to appear in the experiment. Critically, consistent words had only one, while inconsistent words had two possible spellings. Two weeks later, they were trained on the pronunciations of the novel words through aural instruction. They then saw the spellings of these newly acquired words, along with a set of untrained words, in a self-paced sentence reading task. Participants read previously acquired consistent and inconsistent words presented in their preferred spellings faster than inconsistent words with unpreferred spellings. Importantly, no differences were observed in reading untrained consistent and inconsistent words (either preferred or unpreferred). This suggests that participants had generated orthographic skeletons for trained words with two possible spellings according to their individual spelling preferences. These findings provide further evidence for the orthographic skeleton account and show that initial orthographic representations are generated even when the spelling of a newly acquired word is uncertain.

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