Handwritten word recognition is a field of study that has largely been neglected in the psychological literature, despite its prevalence in society. I examine some of the factors underlying our amazing ability to recognize messy, handwritten words quickly and effortlessly. I've studied this problem from a variety of perspectives using traditional word recognition paradigms as well as novel experimental techniques. A sampling of my research foci are outlined on this page, including:
Whereas spoken word recognition research almost exclusively employs natural, human voices as stimuli, visual word recognition research uses only standard, computer-generated typefaces, potentially simplifying the process of word recognition. In a series of experiments, we examined the effect that handwriting has on a series of lexical variables thought to influence bottom-up and top-down processes, including word frequency, regularity, bidirectional consistency, imageability, and orthographic and phonological neighborhood density. The results generally indicate that the natural physical ambiguity of handwritten stimuli forces a greater reliance on top-down processes. The processing slow-down imposed by handwriting allows relatively small effects in typewritten words to be magnified, exerting a stronger influence on recognition. The findings suggest that future studies of word recognition should consider the implementation of handwritten stimuli to fully measure the capabilities and tendencies of the human perceptual system.
Barnhart, A. S., & Goldinger, S. D. (2010). Interpreting chicken-scratch: Lexical access for handwritten words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36, 906-923. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019258 (pdf)
Barnhart, A. S., & Goldinger, S. D. (2015). Orthographic and phonological neighborhood effects in handwritten word perception. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22, 1739-1745. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0846-z (pdf)
Barnhart, A. S., & Goldinger, S. D. (2010). Interpreting chicken-scratch: Lexical access for handwritten words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36, 906-923. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019258 (pdf)
Barnhart, A. S., & Goldinger, S. D. (2015). Orthographic and phonological neighborhood effects in handwritten word perception. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22, 1739-1745. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0846-z (pdf)
A dramatic perceptual asymmetry occurs when handwritten words are rotated 90° in either direction. Those rotated in a direction consistent with their natural tilt (typically clockwise) become much more difficult to recognize, relative to those rotated in the opposite direction. We first verified this phenomenon using typical, right-tilting handwriting: Words rotated clockwise elicited very high error rates (≈70%) in a simple reading task. Experiment 2 verified that the natural tilt of handwriting exaggerates the effect of rotation. Using handwriting samples with both leftward and rightward tilt, we found that leftward tilt flips the rotated cursive effect, with increased errors for words rotated counter-clockwise. Rotation disrupts letter-level processing, as each word’s “perceptual Gestalt” conflicts with the true orientation of its component letters. We suggest that handwritten word perception entails substantial configural processing: As in the “Thatcher Illusion” with faces, disruption of configural processing reduces appreciation of the words’ interior features.
Barnhart, A. S. & Goldinger, S. D. (2013). Rotation reveals the importance of configural cues in handwritten word perception. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20, 1319-1326. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-013-0435-y (pdf)
The rotated cursive effect inspired us to create a new variation on the Thatcher Illusion, "The Cockeyed Thatcher Illusion." When internal features of a face are tilted in the same direction as the entire image is rotated, configural processing is hindered. However, if the tilt does not match the global orientation, one can still appreciate configural properties.
Barnhart, A. S. & Goldinger, S. D. (2013). Rotation reveals the importance of configural cues in handwritten word perception. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20, 1319-1326. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-013-0435-y (pdf)
The rotated cursive effect inspired us to create a new variation on the Thatcher Illusion, "The Cockeyed Thatcher Illusion." When internal features of a face are tilted in the same direction as the entire image is rotated, configural processing is hindered. However, if the tilt does not match the global orientation, one can still appreciate configural properties.
Barnhart and Goldinger (2010; JEP:HPP) reported that various “top-down” effects in lexical access (e.g., word frequency effects) were magnified when people read handwritten words, relative to computer print. We suggested that, when letter-level input is degraded, the perceptual system adjusts with greater lexical feedback. This hypothesis creates a puzzle when considering the classic word-superiority (WS) paradigm, wherein letter strings are briefly flashed then masked. One might expect handwritten items to create large WS effects, as word-level influences would dominate weak letter-level activity. Alternatively, one might expect handwritten items to create small WS effects, as the letter-level input may not sufficiently activate words. In three experiments, we observed clear WS effects with handwritten items, of exactly the same magnitude as the effect with printed items. We also observed a powerful phenomenological effect of “form blindness.” People often could not report whether letter strings were handwritten or printed, immediately after seeing them.
Barnhart, A. S. & Goldinger, S. D. (in preparation). Word superiority and memorial inferiority for handwriting.
Barnhart, A. S. & Goldinger, S. D. (in preparation). Word superiority and memorial inferiority for handwriting.