Eye-fixation behavior, lexical storage, and visual word recognition in a split processing model

Some of the implications of a model of visual word recognition in which pro cessing is conditioned by the anatomical splitting of the visual field betw een the two hemispheres of the brain are explored. The authors investigate the optimal processings of visually presented words within such an architec ture, and, for a realistically sized lexicon of English, characterize a com putationally optimal fixation point in reading. They demonstrate that this approach motivates a range of behavior observed in reading isolated words a nd text, including the optimal viewing position and its relationship with t he preferred viewing location, the failure to fixate smaller words, asymmet ries in hemisphere-specific processing, and the priority given to the exter ior letters of words. The authors also show that split architectures facili tate the uptake of all the letter-position information necessary for effici ent word recognition and that this information may be less specific than is normally assumed. A split model of word recognition captures a range of be havior in reading that is greater than that covered by existing models of v isual word recognition.