Visual Knowledge Underlying Letter Perception: Font-Specific, Schematic Tuning
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1987
Abstract
The representation of visual information about letters is proposed to be highly systematic. The system exploits regularities that are characteristic of letters and fonts by becoming tuned to the details of the font. This should result in efficient letter perception when the stimuli are regular, but not when the stimuli are irregular. The prediction of faster processing with a regular font, as compared with a mixed font, was examined in three experiments requiring the recognition of four-letter strings. Experiment 1 confirmed the prediction, and Experiment 2 replicated the effect with the number of "features" equated across conditions. Experiment 3 showed that the disadvantage for a mixture of fonts is related to how much the representational system must be adjusted to handle the different fonts.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, v. 13, issue 2, p. 267-278
Scholar Commons Citation
Sanocki, Thomas, "Visual Knowledge Underlying Letter Perception: Font-Specific, Schematic Tuning" (1987). Psychology Faculty Publications. 491.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/psy_facpub/491
