Effect of Typeface Complexity on Automatic Whole-Word Reading Processes

Visually complex typefaces require more cognitive effort to process, which
can impact reading efficiency, and have been associated with disfluency
effects. Since our environments may include an increasing range of demanding
reading scenarios—to which we are expected to respond, sometimes
with speed and accuracy—it is important to develop an understanding
of how reading proficiency may be affected as a result. With a focus on
how automatic reading processes may be affected, this study explores the
impact of typeface complexity, determined by stroke length and systematically
measured using perimetric complexity, by using the well-known
Stroop Color and Word Test. We show that automatic whole-word reading
can be negatively affected by typefaces with extremely complex features,
but that moderately complex typefaces have little effect. This suggests that
hard-to-read typefaces do impair word reading (i.e., they are disfluent) but
that skilled readers are able to tolerate a high degree of complexity. It also
highlights the utility of cognitive tests for identifying typefaces that are difficult
to read.