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)

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)

This study was designed to determine whether subjects who received one of three treatments of color cues in an instructional program differed significantly on three learning tasks. Subjects were randomly selected from the kindergarten populations of two Michigan public schools and were assigned to one of three treatment groups. Eight letter-like…

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)

Little research has been done to explain just why words are recognized more easily than letters alone; although, this phenomenon has been accepted widely by educators. Therefore, a model of the processes involved in word recognition and suggestions concerning how these processes can be put to use in reading instruction are presented. The model…

Six separate experiments were undertaken to test the hypothesis that poor readers in first, second, and third grade would have more difficulty with simple perceptual discriminations than would good readers in the same grades. Various tasks were used in the experiments, including discrimination of line orientations, checking letters in three-letter…

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)

This experiment was a direct test of the hypothesis that picture-word differences in discrimination learning are a function of apparent frequency differences associated with two types of material. The subjects consisted of 80 sixth graders randomly selected from two elementary schools located in middle-class neighborhoods. Each subject was tested…

This study presented 24 third graders drawn from suburban elementary schools with high frequency, low discriminability words in four conditions. Subjects were randomly assigned to the four tasks individually. It was hypothesized that poor and normal readers would differ in their ability to read high frequency, low discriminability words presented…

A stratified random sample of 70 pupils was selected from 261 children from three elementary schools, who had completed one year of formal reading instruction. To investigate whether visual discrimination or visual-motor development was more closely related to reading achievement, tests of reading achievement, intelligence, visual-motor abilities,…

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)

The development of a research model to aid in the understanding of the hierarchical structure of reading readiness is described. Data were obtained by testing 218 first graders from three elementary schools with the Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception, the Gates Reading Readiness Test, the Metropolitan Readiness Test, the Olson Reading…

Reports study on speed of response to printed letters, syllables, words, and word sequences in 150 children from kindergarten through grade 11. Tasks included visual matching to a visual sample, visual matching to an auditory sample, oral reading, and visual scanning tasks. (Author/SB)

The study investigated the visual discrimination abilities of children who varied in their ability to recognize words. Measures of word recognition and intelligence were obtained in 87 first-, second-, and third-grade subjects. All subjects then performed a visual discrimination task which uses artificial graphemes as stimuli. The task required…