creators_name: Mueller, Shane T.
creators_name: Weidemann, Christoph T.
creators_id: shanem@mtu.edu
creators_id: ctw@cogsci.info
type: journalp
datestamp: 2011-12-28 02:58:15
lastmod: 2011-12-28 02:58:15
metadata_visibility: show
title: Alphabetic Letter Identification: Effects of perceivability, similarity, and bias
ispublished: pub
subjects: cog-psy
full_text_status: public
abstract: The legibility of the letters in the Latin alphabet has been measured numerous times since the beginning of
experimental psychology. To identify the theoretical mechanisms attributed to letter identification, we report
a comprehensive review of literature, spanning more than a century. This review revealed that identification
accuracy has frequently been attributed to a subset of three common sources: perceivability, bias, and simi-
larity. However, simultaneous estimates of these values have rarely (if ever) been performed. We present the
results of two new experiments which allow for the simultaneous estimation of these factors, and examine
how the shape of a visual mask impacts each of them, as inferred through a new statistical model. Results showed that the shape and identity of the mask impacted the inferred perceivability, bias, and similarity space of a letter set, but that there were aspects of similarity that were robust to the choice of mask. The results illustrate how the psychological concepts of perceivability, bias, and similarity can be estimated simultaneously, and how each make powerful contributions to visual letter identification.
date: 2012
date_type: published
publication: Acta Psychologica
volume: 139
pagerange: 19-37
refereed: TRUE
citation:   Mueller, Shane T. and Weidemann, Christoph T.  (2012) Alphabetic Letter Identification: Effects of perceivability, similarity, and bias.  [Journal (Paginated)]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/7847/1/MuellerWeidemann2012.pdf