Abstract
An experiment with 90 Ss failed to support a traditional theory of reading that the total configuration of a word is the dominant cue for word identification. Distortion of the total shape or structure of words did not interfere with reading unless discriminability of the relative size of lower-case letters was also obscured. It is concluded that feature discrimination rather than familiarity with the total configuration is critical for word identification.
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Research was conducted pursuant to a contract between the Southwest Regional Laboratory and the United States Office of Education. I thank Deborah Lott and Bruce Cronnell for valuable assistance.
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Smith, F. Familiarity of configuration vs discriminability of features in the visual identification of words. Psychon Sci 14, 261–262 (1969). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329112
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329112