5.2
5Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
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Typography and the process of reading: 5.2 Serial and parallel letter recognition
5.1 Word recognition and Bouma shapes 5.3 Saccadic eye movementsSerial and parallel letter recognition
These two concepts are confl icting theories. They both
provide different answers to the question of how texts
are scanned. Do people read various letters of a word
subsequently or simultaneously?Serial letter recognition
According to the serial letter recognition theory, words
are scanned letter by letter starting with the one that is
furthest left. This model is supported by experiments
that provide proof that long words require more time to
be recognised than short ones. Like the Bouma model,
this theory emerged in the early 1970s. However, it was
short-lived and was rejected due to the so-called ‘word
superiority effect’, which revealed that letters are more
easily identifi ed as part of a word than in isolation.Parallel letter recognition
The parallel letter recognition theory, developed in 1989,
is the most recent model and remains the most popular.
This theory assumes that all the letters of a word are
registered simultaneously and analysed in conjunction.
The ability to perceive various letters simultaneously is
apparently aided by the foveal recognition mentioned
earlier. Foveal recognition means that objects that
are just outside people’s optical focal point are still
registered, though not as clearly as the object in focus.
We experience this when we detect moving objects out
of the corner of our eyes. The foveal area is particularly
sensitive to motion – a fact that is worth bearing in mind,
because it allows the designer of motion graphics to
guide the viewer’s focus of attention.Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)
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