Left-to-right processing of alphabetic material is independent of retinal location

The effects of retinal location, serial letter position, and order of approximation to English on the accuracy of report of tachistoscopically presented letter arrays were examined. Processing time was controlled by a visual mask. The results show the following: (1) Overall accuracy is higher for arrays which appeared symmetrically around a central fixation point than for arrays which appeared either in the right or left visual field. (2) The first and last letters of an array are identified with the greatest accuracy except with symmetrical arrays. (3) Fourth-order approximations are more accurately reported than first-order approximations at each retinal location and at each letter position with the exception of the first and last letters. (4) Retinal location interacts with serial position in such a way that letters in middle positions are primarily affected by retinal location. (5) Letters are processed from left to right regardless of retinal location.

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