When reading from left to right, useful information acquired during each fixational pause is widely assumed to extend 14 to 15 characters to the right of fixation but just 3 to 4 characters to the left, and certainly no further than the beginning of the fixated word. However, this leftward extent is strikingly small and seems inconsistent with…

What form is the lexical phonology that gives rise to phonological effects in visual lexical decision? The authors explored the hypothesis that beyond phonological contrasts the physical phonetic details of words are included. Three experiments using lexical decision and 1 using naming compared processing times for printed words (e.g., plead and…

Among 40 reading disabled volunteers (ages 9-74), subjects with high scotopic sensitivity demonstrated significantly better performance on visual processing tasks when they used colored overlays which maximized visual efficiency, compared with task performance under conditions using overlays of a random color or no color. (JW)

Reports a series of studies that investigated the role of parafoveal vision in reading by using the Stroop phenomenon. Supports the "peripheral search guidance" process of Hochberg's model of reading, and provides evidence of processing variations across retinal location. (RL)

Two experiments were conducted to understand the processes through which 5th graders discriminate relevant from irrelevant information when solving mathematical story problems. Visual scanning was recorded and coded as directed toward relevant information, irrelevant information, the question, workspace, and elsewhere. Experiment 1 focused on the…

Two experiments examined the perceptual processing of letters embedded within one- and two-syllable words and visually similar nonwords. Results suggest that (1) the size of compelling perceptual units seems limited, and (2) unit size is not necessarily related to the correspondence between letter order and pronounceability. (Author/BW)

Discusses the effects on oculomotor behavior of variations of the physical attributes of text and similar effects from physical word cues processed in the reader's parafoveal vision. (HOD)

Presents computational and psychophysical evidence in support of a theory of one of the earliest stages of visual processing in reading--the isolation of words in text. (HOD)

Describes a study of 16 kindergarten children--eight good prereaders and eight poor prereaders--designed to determine if there were relations between reading skill and the processing of distinctive features of patterns. Concludes that both pattern classification and feature processing appear to be involved in early reading skills. (TJ)

The functions of spaces between words in adult reading of text were investigated in three experiments. Results were consistent with a two-process theory in which filling parafoveal spaces disrupts guidance of the next eye movement and filling foveal spaces disrupts processing of the fixated word as well. (Author/RD)

The effects of stimulus duration and contrast on duration of visible persistence as a function of spatial frequency were investigated in normal and specific-reading-disabled children. Results suggest that disabled readers have different contrast processing at low and high spatial frequencies and indicate differences between readers in basic visual…

Subjects instructed to circle misspellings while reading prose were less likely to detect misspellings in function than in content words. Misspellings that changed the shape of a word were more likely to be detected. It is not clear whether differences between function and content words are due to familiarity or redundancy. (Author/RD)

In two experiments, a short-term recognition memory task that varied the number of letters distinguishing target and comparison stimuli was used to assess the ability of prereaders and beginning readers to utilize graphic information in a three-letter graphic pattern. (HOD)

Orthographic context and visual letter information were independently varied in a letter recognition task. The results contradicted the qualitative predictions of nonindependence theories of reading and are accurately described by a quantification of independence theory. (Author/CP)

Shows that the ability to impose a distinct and exact meaning on what is seen underlies the skills involved in reading; notes the importance of training in perception combined with a clear sense of the purpose of reading. (GT)