English and Hebrew native speakers read texts mutilated by removing a narrow or a wide strip at the top or at the bottom of the lines. Whereas reading the English texts was impaired more by mutilating the top, the reverse was found for the Hebrew texts. This result is ascribed to the different ways in which information is distributed along the vertical axis of Roman and Hebrew letters. Interactions between region and width of mutilation are argued to indicate that the effect is not due just to features at the very top and very bottom
