Scanning processes and sentence recognition

This report summarizes an experiment designed to study the disruptive effects on immediate recall of interfering with the ability to scan ahead. Sentences were printed on paper tape which was pulled through a window, the size of which could be controlled. There were two exposure widths, three rates of tape movement, and three types of material which varied in length: equational and transitive sentences as well as random strings of words. Errors increase as the exposure width is decreased, and the magnitude of the disruptive effect is most marked for the longer sentences and the faster rate of presentation. A possible explanation is advanced emphasizing the likelihood that Ss store information in a sensory register and scan that register in order to segment sentences into phrases, phrases into words, and words into smaller functional units. As one limits exposure width, one interferes with the transfer of information into the sensory register and with the processing of information after it is stored in the register.