LOCATION CODING WITH SYMBOLS RESEMBLING LETTER STROKES IS BETTER THANWITH WHOLE LETTERS

Three experiments were run to test a model in which location is encode d better for letter strokes than for letters. A string of four letters or four single-stroke symbols resembling long letter strokes appeared on each trial, with the target indicated by a cue in the postexposure mask. The four were chosen from a set of 12 possible items of each ty pe, with letters and symbols never mixed within a display. An error co uld involve either the intrusion of an item not in the array, or the m islocation of one appearing at other than the target location. In all three experiments the predominance of mislocations over intrusions was greater for letters, with the reverse true for symbols, supporting be tter location coding for letter strokes than for whole letters.