Visual Features, Preperceptual Storage, and Processing Time in Reading

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the perceptual processing time required for recognition. Processing time depends on the difficulty of the recognition task, that is, on how much of the information in the stimulus the subject must process before he can make a decision. The chapter focuses on the structural properties of preperceptual visual storage and the temporal course of the primary recognition process. It is assumed that the primary recognition process occurs during the fixations between saccadic eye movements as the next eye movement erases the information in the preperceptual image. As the recognition process cannot be immediate, preperceptual storage holds the information in a preperceptual form, allowing recognition to take place. The duration of the eye fixation places an upper bound on the duration of the information in the preperceptual visual image and, hence, on the amount of time for recognition processing. In terms of the perceptual processing time relevant to reading, it is interesting to note that studies showed an estimate of around 200 or 250 msec, or\sec, which is also the time that the eye remains fixated at a given point in the text during reading. All of the information derived from the text must be acquired during these fixation intervals as the intervening movements from one point to another occur at too great a speed for recognition to take place.

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