Legibility of backbone titles

Abstract

Report of an investigation to determine the comparative legibility of 3 styles of backbone titles on books, periodicals, etc., when the problem is that of recognizing quickly a single title or selecting one desired. In Style A the reading is upward (Up), in Style B downward (Up), in Style C the reading is downward with the letters in normal position (Up). In the first part of the experiment single words were presented tachistoscopically; in the second, a series of words was presented simultaneously and time for recognizing measured electrically. Each word occurred the same number of times in all three styles. With both methods Style A was inferior to the others, and Style B slightly inferior to Style C. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)