Letter processing and font information during reading: beyond distinctiveness, where vision meets design

Letter identification is a critical front end of the reading process. In general, conceptualizations of the identification process have emphasized arbitrary sets of distinctive features. However, a richer view of letter processing incorporates principles from the field of type design, including an emphasis on uniformities across letters within a font. The importance of uniformities is supported by a small body of research indicating that consistency of font increases letter identification efficiency. We review design concepts and the relevant literature, with the goal of stimulating further thinking about letter processing during reading

The known unknowns of anomalous trichromacy

Anomalous trichromacy is the most common minority color vision phenotype, yet the category label obscures a large range of individual differences both in the underlying genetics and in color perception. This review explores both, particularly considering possible reasons for the smaller than expected observed relationship between the spectral sensitivities of anomalous cones and color discrimination. Also considered is the putative process of postreceptoral compensation, where anomalous trichromats may amplify the reduced color signals they receive from their cones to relatively normalize their color vision postreceptorally

The Future of Vision Needs More Bridges and Fewer Walls

The commentator agrees with Pylyshyn\u27s most general claims but sees problems with the more specific proposals about where the boundary between early vision and later processing might lie. The boundary cuts across current models of identification. Limitations in current research on scenic context effects preclude firm conclusions. High-level vision will benefit more from integrative work than from premature analysis

Priming of Scenic Layout Measured with an Accuracy Task

Brief exposure to a known scene activates a representation of its layout that is functional — in a priming paradigm, brief exposure to a scene prime speeds subsequent processing of spatial relations across the scene (Sanocki & Epstein, 1997, Psychological Science; Sanocki, 2003, Cognitive Psychology). However, previous results were obtained with reaction time measures of the speed of spatial processing. Accuracy measures sometimes produce results opposing reaction time. Would analogous priming results be obtained when the target scenes are briefly presented and accuracy is measured? Full color pictures of scenes (different arrangements of blocks) were used as primes and targets. Targets were identical to primes except for two red probe ovals superimposed on scene surfaces. On each trial, a scene prime or the control prime (the background, sans objects) was presented for 300 ms, followed by a 50 ms mask. Then the target appeared, for a duration ranging from 50 to 117 ms. Observers indicated which probe (left or right) was closer to viewpoint. Percentage correct increased with target duration, as would be expected. When scene primes preceded the targets, accuracy was higher throughout processing time relative to the control prime. This advantage is consistent with previous reaction time results. The scene stimuli varied from simple (1 simple object, 3 surfaces total) to complex (4 multipart, obliquely oriented objects, 24 surfaces). Complex scene targets were processed more slowly than simple scenes, although priming effects were similar across scene complexity. As in reaction time experiments, scene complexity increased processing time for targets but the scene priming process was independent of complexity. The results are consistent with a fairly automatic, broad scope scene priming process that prepares a spatial representation, followed by target processing that increases with scenic detail

Presenting Exploding Information: Two Revised Texts on Sensation and Perception

This review concerns two newly revised texts on sensation and perception that incorporate considerable amounts of new research and feature a number of other improvements. This review concerns two newly revised texts on sensation and perception that incorporate considerable amounts of new research and feature a number of other improvements. Both texts are encyclopedic; their main function is to compile and explain a large body of knowledge. Both texts include summaries and unifying themes. Matlin\u27s text will be more useful for an instructor wanting a somewhat easier, student-oriented text, whereas Goldstein\u27s text will be more useful for an instructor wanting precise technical explanations of basic research

Intra- and Interpattern Relations in Letter Recognition

Strings of 4 unrelated letters were backward masked at varying durations to examine 3 major issues. (1) One issue concerned relational features. Letters with abnormal relations but normal elements were created by interchanging elements between large and small normal letters. Overall accuracy was higher for letters with normal relations, consistent with the idea that relational features are important in recognition. (2) Interpattern relations were examined by mixing large and small letters within strings. Relative to pure strings, accuracy was reduced, but only for small letters and only when in mixed strings. This effect can be attributed to attention priority for larger forms over smaller forms, which also explains global precedence with hierarchical forms. (3) Forced-choice alternatives were manipulated in Exps 2 and 3 to test feature integration theory. Relational information was found to be processed at least as early as feature presence or absence

Time Course of Object Identification: Evidence for a Global-to-Local Contingency

A time course contingency is the modification of later phases of object recognition contingent on stimulus information extracted earlier in processing. It can increase the efficiency of later processing and reduce computational burdens. This idea was instantiated within a global-to-local model and supported in 4 integration priming experiments, in which primes and target objects were presented briefly and then masked. In Exps 1–3, global and coarse-grained common-feature primes presented early in processing facilitated discriminations between similarly shaped objects, even though they provided no discrimination-relevant information. In Exp 4, global primes were more effective than local primes early in processing, whereas local primes were more effective than global primes late in processing

Font Regularity Constraints on the Process of Letter Recognition

Strings of four unrelated letters were presented for subjects to identify, followed by a patterned mask and then a forced choice test of each letter position. In Experiment 1, the type style in the regular conditions was consistent—all of the letters were of a single type font—whereas in the mixed condition, each string contained letters from two type fonts. Compared with the mixed condition, accuracy in the regular conditions was higher overall and increased at a faster rate as a function of processing time. This held across four sessions. In Experiment 2, the font in the mixed condition was varied either between or within letter strings; sizeable advantages for the regular conditions were found with both mix-methods. The results are consistent with the idea of a schemalike perceptual system that becomes tuned to the regularities of a particular font in order to process visual information efficiently