This paper used meta-analysis to synthesize the relation between visual skills and Chinese reading acquisition based on the empirical results from 34 studies published from 1991 to 2011. We obtained 234 correlation coefficients from 64 independent samples, with a total of 5,395 participants. The meta-analysis revealed that visual skills as a…

For more than 100 years, research on the psychology of reading has proliferated. In this article, the authors wish to help modern reading researchers understand the origins of the discipline and benefit from its history. This article draws heavily on Edmund Burke Huey's 1908 landmark volume "The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading,"…

We measured the increase in reading speed afforded by two currently available systems of coloured overlays: the "Intuitive Overlays," which provide a choice of 30 colours, and the "Eye Level Reading Rulers," which provide a choice of 5. Forty-eight pupils from a local authority primary school who reported experiencing symptoms of visual stress…

It has been suggested that the differences observed for dyslexic readers compared to normal readers on tasks measuring visual sensitivity may simply be the result of differences between the two groups in general cognitive ability and/or attentional engagement. One common way to accommodate this proposal is to match normal and dyslexic readers on…

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)

This study was designed to explore the sensitivity of children to orthographic structure, particularly across two grade levels and between two levels of reading ability within each grade. (HOD)

Reports the findings of experiments that suggest that much of perception, even to high interpretive levels, is automatic and independent of intention or consciousness, and that the production of words in reading may involve problems that have nothing to do with articulation, even if the words have been identified. (GT)

Investigates the size and shape of the effective visual field in Chinese reading by systematically manipulating the availability of meaningful information on both sides of a fixated character. Shows that the effective visual field was asymmetric and skewed in the direction of scanning with a highly limited size, composed of the fixated character…

A group of 190 third through sixth graders were given either 6, 16, or 26 months of reading instruction with functional color components (FCC) of parts of words. Another 160 children in the same schools did not recieve FCC instruction. FCC brought about improvement in reading scores. Nondisability children showed greater improvement. (Author)

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)

When groups of children were given a test of visual performance designed to measure their dark interval threshold, differences were found between boys and girls and differences were found indicating that those children who had a moderate threshold showed superior reading ability. (MKM)

Reports conversations with children attending a New Zealand reading clinic that indicate that the maximum brightness contrast of black-on-white print was a strong contributing factor in the children's reading disabilities. (Author/GT)

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)

Shows that color blindness, whether partial or total, inhibits literacy acquisition. Offers a case study of a third grader with impaired color vision. Presents a review of literature on the topic. Notes that people with color vision deficits are often unaware of the handicap. (RS)

Reviews work on three areas of visual information that are available to readers: information provided by the conventional arrangements of the print on the page, by the features of each letter, and by the shapes of entire words. (HOD)