Differential effects of concurrent letters on visual field differences in letter recognition

Abstract

To examine whether concurrently presenting surrounding scripts affect single Alphabet recognition, subjects compared letters which appeared in the left or the right visual field to a previously presented sample letter. Four different comparison stimuli were prepared, target letter embedded in same-type print letters, in different-type letters, in different kinds of characters, and in blank space (control). The results indicated that both RTs for letter matches and visual field differences were different depending upon the kind of letters that surrounded the target Alphabet. This finding strongly suggests that letter recognition is affected by the presence of neighbouring letters, and further that the nature of the surroundings can differentially affect cerebral hemispheric functioning.