the avm deals with encoding, verification, and decision operations. encoding is used to describe the early operations that lead to the unconscious activation of learned units in memory. after encoding, verification occurs. verification often leads to the conscious recognition of a single lexical entry from the respondents. verification is to be viewed as an independent, top-down analysis of stimulus that is guided by the stored, or previously learned, representation of a word. real-time processing in verification can be mimicked by a computer simulation. lastly, the factors affecting speed and accuracy of performance in a particular paradigm depend on whether decisions are based primarily on information from encoding or verification.