LETTER LEGIBILITY AND VISUAL WORD RECOGNITION

Word recognition performance varies systematically as a function of wh ere the eyes fixate in the word. Performance is maximal with the eye s lightly left of the center of the word and decreases drastically to bo th sides of this optimal viewing position. While manipulations of lexi cal factors have only marginal effects on this phenomenon, previous st udies have pointed to a relation between the viewing position effect ( VPE) and letter legibility: When letter legibility drops, the VPE beco mes more exaggerated. To further investigate this phenomenon, we impro ved letter legibility by magnifying letter size in a way that was prop ortional to the distance from fixation (e.g., TABLE). Contrary to what would be expected if the VPE were due to limits of acuity, improving the legibility of letters has only a restricted influence on performan ce. In particular, for long words, a strong VPE remains even when lett er legibility is equalized across eccentricities. The failure to neutr alize the VPE is interpreted in terms of perceptual learning: Since no rmally, because of acuity limitations, the only information available in parafoveal vision concerns low-resolution features of letters; even when magnification provides better information, readers are unable to make use of it.