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LETTER AND WORD PERCEPTION
ADVANCES
IN PSYCHOLOGY 4 Editors
G . E. STELMACH P. A. VROON
NORTH-HOLLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY AMSTERDAM * NEW YORK * OXFORD
LETTER AND WORD PERCEPTION Orthographic Structure and VisualProcessing in Reading
Dominic W. MASSARO Glen A. TAYLOR Richard L. VENEZKY James E. JASTRZEMBSKI and
Peter A. LUCAS Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Individualized Schooling Universityof Wisconsin
1980
NORTH-HOLLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY AMSTERDAM * NEW YORK * OXFORD
Copyright 1980 -The Board of Regentsof the University of Wisconsin System Copyright is claimed until 1990. Thereafter all portionsof this work covered by this copyright will be in the public domain. Thiswork was developed under agrant from the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. However, the content does not necessarily reflect the position or policy of that Agency, and no official endorsement of these materials should be inferred.
ISBN: 0 444 85493 2
Publishers:
NORTH-HOLLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY AMSTERDAMoNEW YORK. OXFORD Sole distributors for the U.S.A. and Canada: ELSEVIER NORTH-HOLLAND, INC. 5 2 VANDERBILT AVENUE, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10017
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publieation Data
Main entry under title:
Letter and vord perception. (Advances in psychology ; 4) Includes bibliopaphical references and indexes. 1. Reading. 2. Word recognition. 3. English langupee--Alphabet. 4. Reading, Psychology of. I. M688az.0, Dominic W. 11. Series: Advauces in psychology (Amsterdam) 4. LBlO#O.L47 428.4 80-14350
PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
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Preface
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t o c o m p l e t e l y a n a l y z e w h a t w e d o when w e r e a d would a l m o s t b e t h e acme of a psychologist's achievements, f o r i t would b e t o d e s c r i b e v e r y many o f t h e m o s t i n t r i c a t e w o r k i n g s o f t h e human m i n d , a s w e l l a s t o u n r a v e l t h e t a n g l e d s t o r y of t h e most remarkable s p e c i f i c performance t h a t c i v i l i z a t i o n has learned i n a l l its history. T h e s e w o r d s a r e no l e s s a p p r o p r i a t e t o d a y t h a n t h e y were when Edmund Burke Huey confronted the challenge of understanding reading i n 1 9 0 8 . And a l t h o u g h m o s t l i t e r a t e s o c i e t i e s d e v o t e v a l u a b l e f i n a n c i a l and human r e s o u r c e s t o u n d e r s t a n d i n g r e a d i n g , i t o f t e n seems a s i f w e a r e n o n e a r e r t o It achieving t h i s goal. However, some p r o g r e s s i s a p p a r e n t . is g e n e r a l l y a g r e e d t h a t r e a d i n g i n v o l v e s t h e u t i l i z a t i o n o f a along with the a c t i v e v a s t range of performance s k i l l s a p p l i c a t i o n o f t h e knowledge r e s o u r c e s o f t h e r e a d e r . The g o a l f o r t h e r e s e a r c h e r , i s t o d e s c r i b e e a c h o f t h e s k i l l s an d t o e v a l u a t e how k n o w l e d g e c o n t r i b u t e s t o t h e s k i l l e d p e r f o r m a n c e . Our r e s e a r c h i n v e s t i g a t e s how k n o w l ed g e o f t h e o r t h o g r a p h y ( r u l e s of spelling) i s a c t i v e l y e n g a g e d i n l e t t e r and word As m i g h t be expected, our perception of s k i l l e d readers. r e s e a r c h e n t e r p r i s e had i t s s h a r e o f b o t h s u b s t a n t i v e a d v a n c e s i n our understanding of b a s i c psychological p r o c e s s e s an d distracting glances a t some of t h e mind's bewildering inconsistencies. Our g o a l i n t h i s m o n o g r ap h i s t o c o m m