Peripheral Information Processing in Reading.
Abstract
An experiment is described in which third and fifth graders and adults either read or searched through paragraphs of text that varied either the sentence or word orientation. Individual words and/or sentences were printed in a manner from left-to-right or from right-to-left. The aim of the study was to assess the extent to which subjects are able to prescreen information in the periphery under different task conditions. When word or sentence orientation is varied so that it is presented in a disturbed orientation, it was expected that reading and/or search speed would be affected to a different extent depending on the ability of the subjects to continue to pick up information in the periphery. Results show that the main factor that determined reading and search speed was the orientation of the word, regardless of the orientation of the sentence. Further, a developmental progression in reading proficiency was found; yet, when word orientation was reversed all subjects performed at essentially the same slow rates. Prescreening is available to normal efficient reading adults and to a lesser degree to children regardless of the orientation of the sentence but only when words are in normal orientation. The data are interpreted to support the peripheral to cognitive search guidance system proposed by Hochberg (1970) and the automaticity notion put forth by LaBerge and Samuels )1974). (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 20, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA051492
Entities
People
- Lester A. Lefton
Organizations
- University of South Carolina Aiken Department of Psychology