Previous research shows that when briefly presented alphabetic stimuli are followed by pattern masks, letters in words are reported more accurately than are isolated letters (the "WordLetter Phenomenon," or WLP); however, when these masks are replaced by blank fields, the WLP disappears. These findings have led to the popular notion that the WLP reflects selective masking of ongoing stimulus processing and so critically depends on the use of poststimulus masks. Here we report three experiments which re-examine the role of masking in the WLP by contrasting the effects of postmasked displays with the effects of premasked displays in which words and isolated letters were preceded by a pattern mask and followed by a completely blank field. Despite the critical role generally assigned to poststimulus pattern masks, similar WLPs were obtained with pre-and postmasked displays. Implications for theories of word and letter recognition are discussed.By limiting the amount of time for which a word, nonword, or single letter is presented, information can be gained to determine which physical characteristics of words are encoded by the reader and over what time scale this encoding takes place. One particular finding in this area has maintained a considerable impact on contemporary views of word recognition since it was first reported more than twenty years ago. Using a two-alternative forced-choice procedure (generally known as the ReicherWheeler paradigm), a number of studies have shown that when alphabetic stimuli are followed by a pattern mask (composed of irregular arrangements of letter fragments or similar contours), letters in words are reported more accurately than are the same letters presented in isolation

When choosing which of 2 equally plausible "critical" letters (e.g., n or h) was present in a briefly presented backward-pattern-masked target (the Reicher-Wheeler task), people are more accurate with words (e.g., sftow) than isolated letters (h). Contemporary accounts argue that pattern masks induce this word-letter phenomenon (WLP) because critical letters in words are more resistant to replacement from masking letter fragments occupying the same serial positions. The authors tested this notion by directly examining the effect of positionspecific masking on critical-letter report using backward-pattern masks that occupied only each critical-letter position. Under these conditions, no WLP was observed, even though all noncritical letters in words were unmasked. However, a strong WLP was obtained when masks occupied all possible serial positions, including those of noncritical letters. Further experiments indicated that these masking effects were not confounded by attentional factors. Implications for contemporary accounts of the WLP and the structure of the word recognition system are discussed.Severely limiting the amount of time during which alphabetic stimuli are presented can provide important clues about which physical characteristics of words and letters are encoded by readers and the time scale over which this encoding takes place. To date, studies of this kind have provided a number of interesting and influential findings for word recognition research (for reviews see, e.g., Carr, 1986;Henderson, 1987;McClelland & Rumelhart, 1981). However, one finding in particular has maintained a considerable impact on theories of word and letter recognition since it was first reported more than 25 years ago. Using a twoalternative forced-choice procedure (generally known as the Reicher-Wheeler task), a number of studies have shown that when targets are followed by a pattern mask (composed of irregular arrangements of letter fragments or similar contours), letters in words (but not letters in nonwords) are reported more accurately than are the same letters presented in isolation (

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