Familiarity of configuration vs discriminability of features in the visual identification of words

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. © 1969, Psychonomic Journals, Inc.. All rights reserved.