Patberg J P, Yonas A
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1978 Nov;4(4):545-52. doi: 10.1037//0096-1523.4.4.545.
Development of the perceptual span in reading was investigated by varying the availability of graphic information in the periphery of vision. Low-ability eighth-grade readers, high-ability eighth-grade readers, and skilled adult readers read texts presented in a normal prose format, with a single space between words, and texts typed with 13 letter spaces between words. It was found that removing peripheral information by wide spacing improved comprehension for low-ability eighth graders but did not affect their overall reading efficiency (the number of questions answered correctly per minute of reading time). Wide spacing decreased the reading efficiency of high-ability eighth-grade readers and skilled adult readers. In addition, the texts were of two levels of difficulty. It was hypothesized that subjects would employ a larger span of perception with the easy text. Surprisingly, the wide spacing of words did not produce greater decrement fo reading efficiency with the easy text. The findings thus suggest that the perceptual span may increase as reading skill develops but does not change under the influence of momentary task variables.
通过改变视觉外周图形信息的可获取性，对阅读中感知广度的发展进行了研究。低能力的八年级读者、高能力的八年级读者和熟练的成年读者阅读以正常散文格式呈现的文本，单词之间有一个空格，以及单词之间有13个字母空格的文本。结果发现，通过宽间距去除外周信息提高了低能力八年级学生的阅读理解能力，但不影响他们的整体阅读效率（每分钟阅读时间内正确回答的问题数量）。宽间距降低了高能力八年级读者和熟练成年读者的阅读效率。此外，文本有两个难度级别。据推测，受试者在阅读简单文本时会采用更大的感知广度。令人惊讶的是，单词宽间距在简单文本中并没有导致阅读效率更大程度的下降。因此，研究结果表明，感知广度可能会随着阅读技能的发展而增加，但不会在瞬间任务变量的影响下发生变化。
