An Experimental Study of the Relationship of Peripheral Perception to Factors in Reading

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the manner in which reading abil ity and reading habits are related to accuracy of perception in peripheral vision. More spe cifically, the purpose of the study was to find out how factors involved in or associated with reading, such as intelligence, spelling, vocab ulary, reading speed, reading comprehension, reading span, and regressive movements, are related to: (i) accuracy of perception in the right peripheral field of vision, (2) accuracy of perception in the left peripheral field of vision, and (3) preference for, or comparative superiority in, the right peripheral field. Many writers have defined the importance of peripheral perception in reading, and the way in which peripheral stimuli operate in the reading process. Dearborn points out that "reading, like efficient driving of an automo bile in traffic, demands a very skillful use of peripheral vision."2 Dodge3 has explained that as the reader's eyes move across the line, the cues received through peripheral vision operate as partial perceptions which furnish premonitions of coming words and phrases. Furthermore, Dodge4 and also Meumann, cited by Tinker,5 contend that the word forms in peripheral vision act as stimuli for the reflex movement of the eyes across the line. Gray,6 in his discussion of the factors involved in the anticipation of meaning in reading, emphasizes the importance of "the marginal impressions made upon the retina"; these, he contends, function in reading as "preperceptions which initiate the process of interpretation."7 An impressive array of experts in the field thus seem agreed in stressing the importance of peripheral factors in reading. Consistent with this emphasis, Dearborn interprets the reading disability caused by aniseikonia,8 presumably a foveal anomaly, as seemingly attributable to its interference with peripheral vision. In his own words: "It is with this peripheral view of the line of print, which is so requisite for the proper spacing of the fixa tion pauses, that aniseikonia may interfere."9 The question of optimal length of line, as Dearborn points out, is also related to periph eral factors. In this connection, he makes the observation that "those lines are best suited to rapid reading which give opportunity for a wide span of attention, but which are not of such length that the peripheral perceptions from the end or beginning of a line are too inexact and confused to be of value in deter mining the general character of a large part of the line. It is thus generally accepted by students of the reading process that, with out the perceptions in peripheral vision, read ing would be both slow and difficult. Periph eral stimuli help govern the width of the reading span, as well as the duration of indi vidual fixations. Notwithstanding the importance that has been attributed to peripheral perception in reading, few data have been gathered con cerning the manner in which individual vari ations in peripheral perception are related to reading. Although Ruediger11 approached this problem in his study of the relationship between reading and the area of clear vision, except for the work of Crosland12 there is little experimental evidence bearing directly on this problem. 1This article is a part of a Doctor's dissertation in educa tional psychology at the University of Texas. 2W. F. Dearborn, "On the Possible Relations of Visual Fatigue to Reading Disabilities," School and Society, LU (1940), 536. 3 R. Dodge, "An Experimental Study of Visual F;xation," Psychological Review, Monograph Supplements,  (1907). 4 Ibid. 5 M. A. Tinker. "Visual Apprehension and Perception in Reading," Psychological Bulletin, XXVI (1929), 231. 6 C T. Gray, "The Anticipation of Meaning as a Factor in Reading Ability,"  (1923), 614-626. 7 Ibid., p. 615. 8 See W. F. Dearborn and I. H. Anderson, "Aniseikonia as Related to Disability in Reading," The Journal of Experi mental Psychology, XXIII (1938), 559-577. 0 W. F. Dearborn, "On the Possible Relations of Visual Fatigue to Reading Disabilities," School and Society, LII (1940), 536. 10 W. F. Dearborn, The Psychology of Reading, Archives of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific   (1906), p. 131. 11 W. C Ruediger, The Field of Distinct Vision, Archives of Psychology, Vol. I, No. 5 (1907). 12 H. R. Crosland, "Superior Elementary-School Readers Contrasted with Inferior Readers in Letter-Position. 'Range of Attention' Scores," Journal of Educational Research, XXXII (1939), 410-427.

Field of study: Education