An Aspect of Perceptual Organization Involved in Reading Typed and Handwritten Words

Abstract

Three experiments of identical design, but using different basic materials are reported. In experiment I the probability of recognizing tachistoscopically presented typed and handwritten words was found (a) when the two types of materials were presented in separate lists, and (b) when presented together in a mixed list when subjects did not know what type of material to expect next in the sequence. In Experiment II, two handwritings were employed and in Experiment III, upper and lower case typed material was used. The mixed condition resulted in poorer performance than the unmixed condition only in Experiment I when typing and handwriting were used. In Experiments II and III, mixing had no effect. It is suggested that different recognition programs are used for typed and hand-written characters.