Is reading serial?

B. Are letters acquired in parallel or serially? If letters within a word are acquired serially, we should find no difference in reading rate if letters are shown one at a time. Taking away letters you’re not using at that moment shouldn’t hurt. We tested this prediction by reducing the number of letters shown simultaneously (Fig. 1) and find that, with serial letter presentation, reading rate for 4-letter words is reduced by about a factor of 4 (Fig. 2a). In other words, required word duration quadruples when we present the letters serially (Fig. 2b), but required letter duration is independent of how many letters are presented at once (Fig. 2c). Letters are acquired in parallel (independently).