![Leverhulme](title.png) 


##Loading the model
Let’s start by taking a look at a classic computational model of visual word recognition – the interactive activation (IA) model introduced by McClelland and Rumelhart in 1981. To load the model choose **Load model** from the main menu: 

![load_model](load_model.png)

select the file titled **ia.eNm**. After a few seconds you will see the architecture of the model displayed on the right-hand side of the screen:![IA architecture](ia_architecture.png)

The IA model is sometimes referred to as a simple model, but this is misleading. It’s true that the architecture of the model is simple – it consists of just three layers, corresponding to letter features, letters and words. Furthermore, this is a localist model, and so each node within the model corresponds to a meaningful entity (i.e., a feature, letter or word). Nevertheless, the model can give rise to complex behaviour. This complexity arises from the nonlinearity of the model’s activation equation and the feedback within and between layers.

[Next: Running a trial](page2 "Running a trial")