To gain a better understanding of visual perception in reading, a study tested the predictive validity of the Goodman Model of Reading by measuring the extent to which 82 college students (graduate and undergraduate) were able to perceive and accurately report 10 lines of print. It also attempted to integrate research conducted over the past 100 years using the tachistoscope with current knowledge of perception in reading. Results indicated that visual perception is affected by, but not limited to, what is visually available and that perceivers' cognitive schema are actively involved in the perception of visual information. Findings also showed that subjects' knowledge of the redundancy of language enhanced perception and allowed for more efficient, accurate, and complete visual perception. Analyses showed that an English sentence was perceived more accurately than an English word, that a word was perceived more accurately than a "pseudoword," and that a pseudoword was perceived more accurately than a line with an unnatural word order. In short, the more a line approximated written English, the more accurately it was reported. (Statistical tables and a four-page list of references are included. An appendix lists the lines of print in the form and sequence of their presentation in the study.) (JD)