title: Training improves reading speed in peripheral vision: is it due to attention?
abstract: Previous research has shown that perceptual training in peripheral vision, using a letter-recognition task, increases reading speed and letter recognition (S. T. L. Chung, G. E. Legge, & S. H. Cheung, 2004). We tested the hypothesis that enhanced deployment of spatial attention to peripheral vision explains this training effect. Subjects were pre- and post-tested with 3 tasks at 10° above and below fixation-RSVP reading speed, trigram letter recognition (used to construct visual-span profiles), and deployment of spatial attention (measured as the benefit of a pre-cue for target position in a lexical-decision task). Groups of five normally sighted young adults received 4 days of trigram letter-recognition training in upper or lower visual fields, or central vision. A control group received no training. Our measure of deployment of spatial attention revealed visual-field anisotropies; better deployment of attention in the lower field than the upper, and in the lower-right quadrant compared with the other three quadrants. All subject groups exhibited slight improvement in deployment of spatial attention to peripheral vision in the post-test, but this improvement was not correlated with training-related increases in reading speed and the size of visual-span profiles. Our results indicate that improved deployment of spatial attention to peripheral vision does not account for improved reading speed and letter recognition in peripheral vision.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea. hwlee@ewha.ac.kr
authors.forename: Hye-Won
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Miyoung
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Gordon E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Legge
authors.forename: Joshua J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gefroh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014787:Vision Tests / Q000379:methods; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult