Behavioral studies have shown that the legibility of handwritten script hinders visual word recognition. Furthermore, when compared with printed words, lexical effects (e.g., word-frequency effect) are magnified for less intelligible (difficult) handwriting (Barnhart and Goldinger, 2010; Perea et al., 2016). This boost has been interpreted in terms of greater influence of top-down mechanisms during visual word recognition. In the present experiment, we registered the participants' ERPs to uncover top-down processing effects on early perceptual encoding. Participants' behavioral and EEG responses were recorded to high- and low-frequency words that varied in script's legibility (printed, easy handwritten, difficult handwritten) in a lexical decision experiment. Behavioral results replicated previous findings: word-frequency effects were larger in difficult handwriting than in easy handwritten or printed conditions. Critically, the ERP data showed an early effect of word-frequency in the N170 that was restricted to the difficult-to-read handwritten condition. These results are interpreted in terms of increased attentional deployment when the bottom-up signal is weak (difficult handwritten stimuli). This attentional boost would enhance top-down effects (e.g., lexical effects) in the early stages of visual word processing.

行为研究表明，手写文字的易读性阻碍了视觉单词识别。此外，与印刷文字相比，词汇效应（例如，词频效应）会因难以理解（难）的笔迹而被放大（Barnhart 和 Goldinger，2010 年；Perea 等人，2016 年）。这种提升被解释为在视觉词识别过程中自上而下机制的更大影响。在本实验中，我们注册了参与者的 ERP，以揭示自上而下的处理对早期感知编码的影响。在词汇决策实验中，参与者的行为和 EEG 反应被记录到高频和低频单词，这些单词在脚本的易读性（印刷的、容易手写的、难手写的）上有所不同。行为结果重复了之前的发现：与简单的手写或印刷条件相比，困难手写的词频效应更大。至关重要的是，ERP 数据显示 N170 中词频的早期影响仅限于难以阅读的手写条件。当自下而上的信号较弱（困难的手写刺激）时，这些结果被解释为增加的注意力部署。这种注意力提升将在视觉文字处理的早期阶段增强自上而下的效果（例如，词汇效果）。当自下而上的信号较弱（困难的手写刺激）时，这些结果被解释为增加的注意力部署。这种注意力提升将在视觉文字处理的早期阶段增强自上而下的效果（例如，词汇效果）。当自下而上的信号较弱（困难的手写刺激）时，这些结果被解释为增加的注意力部署。这种注意力提升将在视觉文字处理的早期阶段增强自上而下的效果（例如，词汇效果）。