Abstract

Computer displays allow people to do many things that they could not do without them. Reading from these displays is a main behavioral activity that cuts across most uses of computers. Experiments have shown that people read more slowly from CRT displays than from paper, sometimes 20-30% slower (e.g., Gould & Grischkowsky, 1984). From 1983-1985, we conducted fifteen experiments and several more analyses in an effort to understand the cause of this reading difference. Initially, each experiment isolated one variable and studied whether that variable explained the difference (Gould, Alfaro, Barnes, Finn, Grishkowsky, and Minuto, 1987). Typically, experimental participants would proofread several pages of text in good quality fonts on Paper, and then (or before) proofread similar material from a computer-controlled CRT display. Proofreading time and accuracy was recorded, and the personal feelings of participants were also noted afterwards.

© 1989 Optical Society of America