One Missing-Letter Effect: Two Methods of Assessment

When participants search for a target letter while reading, they make more omissions if the target letter is embedded in frequent function words than in less frequent content words. This effect is usually observed with a paper and pencil procedure. It has been shown that a similar pattern is observed using a rapid serial visual presentation procedure in which words appear one at a time on a computer screen. It has been questioned, however, whether the two methods tap the same cognitive processes. Item-based correlations between the paper and pencil and the rapid serial visual presentation procedure were high and not significantly different from reliability estimates of either procedure. It is concluded that both procedures highlight the same cognitive processes that are responsible for the missing-letter effect.