The key difference between the interactive activation model of reading and the TRACE model of speech perception is that only the former contains lateral inhibition at the word level.

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question asks about the key difference between the interactive activation model of reading and the TRACE model of speech perception, specifically regarding lateral inhibition at the word level.
Option 1: True. This would claim that only the interactive activation model includes lateral inhibition at the word level. However, this is not accurate because TRACE, like many interactive activation-inspired models, also employs inhibitory interactions at various levels, including word-level competition and lateral inhibition within layers. Therefore labeling the statement as true would misstate what TRACE implements.
Option 2: False. This option asserts that the claim in the stem is incorrect. Given that TRACE does incorporate inhibitory mechanisms (including lateral inhibition) at multiple processing levels, the supposed exclusive presence of word-level lateral inhibition in the reading model is not correct. Hence, the statement is false because both models use lateral inhibition in some form, not just the reading model.
Option 3: No answer text provided. This option is not informative and does not engage with the content of the models or their mechanisms, so it lacks relevance to the question.
Option 4: No answer text provided. As with Option 3, this choice fails to address the theoretical distinction and should be disregarded as uninformative.
In summary, the claim that only the interactive activation model of reading contains lateral inhibition at the word level misrepresents TRACE, which also features inhibitory interactions at the word level; thus, the statement is incorrect. The incorrect options either repeat the same informational gap or offer non-substantive responses that do not engage with the models’ inhibitory architectures.

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The key difference between the interactive activation model of reading and the TRACE model of speech perception is that only the former contains lateral inhibition at the word level.

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