Coloured overlays, text, and texture

In four studies children were asked to read aloud a passage of randomly ordered common words with and without a coloured sheet of plastic (overlay) placed upon the page. The children's rate of reading increased with the overlay, for some children more than for others. The children were also asked to undertake a test of texture segmentation in which targets consisting of a structured texture had to be distinguished from within a random background texture. The texture segmentation was improved when the overlay was used, again for some children more than for others. The improvement in texture segmentation was, in general, correlated with the improvement in rate of reading. Slower readers were generally poorer at texture segmentation. The implications for reading, for texture segmentation, and for clinical tests of vision are discussed.