Visual interference in the parafoveal recognition of initial and final letters of words

As part of a visual investigation of reading processes, single words have been recognized in parafoveal vision. Correct initial and final letters are counted in the response words. Surprisingly, the most outward letters, far from fixation, score higher than the most inward letters, close to fixation. The same result is obtained if these letters are directly recognized from unpronounceable letter strings. This reveals a strong adverse interaction mainly acting towards the fovea. Words and inward letters are recognized better Right than Left of fixation, in particular for long stimuli. Therefore the range of interaction seems smaller Right than Left of fixation possibly due to reading habits. Letter counts are higher in words than in letter strings. The difference gives the completion by other perceived word properties.