Word Mode: a crowding-free reading protocol for individuals with macular disease.

ABSTRACT: Central retinal loss through macular disease markedly reduces the ability to read largely because identification of a word using peripheral vision is negatively influenced by nearby text, a phenomenon termed visual crowding. Here, we present a novel peripheral reading protocol, termed Word Mode, that eliminates crowding by presenting each word in isolation but in a position that mimics its natural position in the line of text being read, with each new word elicited using a self-paced button press. We used a gaze-contingent paradigm to simulate a central scotoma in four normally-sighted observers, and measured oral reading speed for text positioned 7.5° in the inferior field. Compared with reading whole sentences, our crowding-free protocol increased peripheral reading speeds by up to a fac

SUBMITTER: Wallis S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5775436 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature