Does Extra Interletter Spacing Help Text Reading in Skilled Adult Readers?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Reading Science
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Previous research indicates enhanced visual word recognition with increased interletter spacing in skilled adult readers.
• The ecological validity of this finding for continuous text reading remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if increased interletter spacing benefits reading speed and comprehension in a naturalistic text reading scenario.
• To determine the generalizability of interletter spacing effects beyond isolated word recognition.

Main Methods:

• A within-subject design was employed where participants read standardized stories with default and increased interletter spacing.
• Eye movements were tracked using an eyetracker to measure fixation durations and counts.
• Reading comprehension was assessed through scores on the standardized reading test.

Main Results:

• A statistically significant reduction in average fixation duration was observed with increased interletter spacing (237 ms vs. 245 ms).
• Total reading time did not differ significantly due to a non-significant increase in fixation counts with extra spacing.
• Comprehension scores remained comparable across both interletter spacing conditions.

Conclusions:

• While reduced fixation durations suggest a potential benefit, increased interletter spacing does not consistently enhance reading speed or comprehension in skilled adult readers during text reading.
• The findings suggest that the facilitative effect of interletter spacing on word recognition may not translate to improved overall text reading performance.