A word-superiority effect in the presence of foveal load

Foveal stimuli have been shown to disrupt visual information processing in the parafovea and periphery by their mere presence. In the present study, 6 subjects were presented letter triads 3.58 degrees to the right or left of the point of fixation. At the same time, a single letter was presented at the point of fixation that was either the same as the middle letter in the triad or different from any of the triad letters. On other trials, no letter was presented at the point of fixation. Analysis indicated a word superiority effect when a foveal letter was presented that was the same as the letter in the triad. Performance between words and nonwords did not differ significantly when the foveal letter was different or absent. It was concluded that the mere presence of foveal load alone is not disruptive to performance. Depending on the visual context of the target to be reported, the presence of a foveal stimulus may improve performance.