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Abstract Numerous studies have demonstrated that orthographic knowledge is coded in an abstract format in English (e.g., the perceptually dissimilar words READ/read map onto a common abstract orthographic representation). However, it is unclear at present whether this mapping occurs at the letter or word level. Two experiments investigate this issue in a language (i.e., Japanese) where words can be written in perceptually unrelated scripts (Kanji and Hiragana), and crucially, where there are no letter correspondences between scripts. Using the long-term priming paradigm, robust priming was obtained when study/test words were depicted in Hiragana/Kanji, and vice versa. Furthermore, little priming was obtained following a study/test modality shift. The modality specific nature of this priming suggests that corresponding words in the two scripts share common orthographic representations. A model is out-lined that describes how abstract orthographic knowledge is acquired.
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