1,721,060 research outputs found
Foveal processing and word skipping during reading
No full textAn eyetracking experiment is reported examining the assumption that a word is skipped during sentence reading because parafoveal processing during preceding fixations has reached an advanced level in recognizing that word. Word n was presented with reduced contrast, with case alternation, or normally. Reingold and Rayner (2006) reported that, in comparison to the normal condition, reduced contrast increased viewing times on word n but not on word n+ 1, whereas case alternation increased viewing times on both words. These patterns were reflected in the fixation times of the present experiment, but a striking dissociation was observed in the skipping of word n+ 1: The reduced contrast of word n decreased skipping of word n+ 1, whereas case alternation did not. Apart from the amount of parafoveal processing, the decision to skip word n+ 1 is also influenced by the ease of processing word n: Difficulties in processing word n lead to a more conservative strategy in the decision to skip word n+ 1. <br/
Using E-Z reader to examine word skipping during reading
No full textThe question of why readers sometimes skip words has important theoretical implications for our understanding of perception, cognition, and oculomotor control during reading (Drieghe, Rayner, & Pollatsek, 2005). In this article, the E-Z Reader model of eye-movement control in reading (Reichle, 2011) was used to examine the behavioral consequences of word skipping on fixation durations. The simulations suggest that skipping "cost," or inflated fixation durations immediately prior to skips, is modulated by the lexical properties of the upcoming word (i.e., longer fixations before skipping infrequent and/or long words; Kliegl & Engbert, 2005) but that contrary to previous claims (e.g., Reichle & Laurent, 2006), "accidental" skips due to motor error also produce skipping cost. In contrast, the cost associated with having skipped a word was not modulated by that word's properties. These simulations suggest that skipping behavior is even more complicated than previously has been assumed and that further empirical research is needed to understand the causal link between skipping and its associated cost
How fast can predictability influence word skipping during reading?
No full textParticipants' eye movements were tracked when reading sentences in which target word predictability was manipulated to being unpredictable from the preceding context, predictable from the sentence preceding the one in which the target word was embedded, or predictable from the adjective directly preceding the target word. Results show that there was no difference in skipping rates between the 2 predictability conditions, which were skipped more often than the neutral condition. This suggests that predictability can impact the decision of whether to skip a word to a similar degree irrespective of whether the predictability originated from the prior word or the entire preceding sentence context. This finding can only be explained by models of eye-movement control during reading that assume that word n is processed up to a high level before the decision to skip word n + 1 is made
The use of eye movement corpora in vocabulary research
No full textAnalysis of existing datasets of eye movements in reading is a valuable tool for vocabulary research because it allows researchers to examine word recognition in an authentic context. We argue that such secondary analysis is an important addition to new experimental studies and existing mega-studies because it examines word recognition in real text rather than in crammed conditions or in isolation. Corpora in which participants read long texts are particularly interesting because they provide rich material that can be better controlled for confounding variables, but a collection of small data sets can also be interesting because it contains more variation than is typically possible in a single study. We discuss the considerations to take into account when dealing with eye movement data in reading and urge colleagues to make their eye movement data available in the spirit of open science so that a larger database can be built more quickly
Parafoveal-on-foveal effects on eye movements during reading
No full textParafoveal-on-foveal effects refer to the possibility that processing of the parafoveal word can influence the fixation durations on the foveal word during reading. In this Chapter, I will review the literature of studies examining this issue. Effects observed in reading-like tasks have been questioned on methodological grounds with regards to the generalisibility to normal reading. The clearest evidence for the existence of parafoveal-on-foveal effects comes from experiments allowing tight control over the stimuli but restricting the observations to fixation locations very close to the parafoveal word, and from corpus studies showing reliable but numerically small effects. I will make the claim that with regards to taking reported parafoveal-on-foveal effects as evidence for parallel lexical processing, the jury is still out. The argument is that as long as parafoveal-on-foveal effects are numerically small and difficult to replicate in a controlled experiment, they can be explained on the basis of mislocated fixations, machine error and binocular disparity. These latter three influences can create apparent parafoveal-on-foveal effects without being linked to parallel lexical processing
Parafoveal processing of repeated words during reading
No full textIn an eye tracking experiment during reading, we examined the Repetition Effect whereby words that are repeated in the same paragraph receive shorter fixation durations. Target words that were either high- or low-frequency words and of which the parafoveal preview was either correct or with all letters replaced were embedded three times in the same paragraph. Shorter fixation times and higher skipping rates were observed for high-frequency compared to low- frequency words, words for which the parafoveal preview was correct versus incorrect and as the word was being repeated more often. An interaction between frequency and repetition indicated that the reduction in fixation times due to repetition was more pronounced for low- frequency words. We also observed influences of word repetition on parafoveal processing as repeated words were skipped more often. An interaction between parafoveal preview and repetition indicated an absent repetition effect when the preview was incorrect but this effect was short-lived as it was restricted to the first fixation duration on the target word
Lack of semantic parafoveal preview benefit in reading revisited
No full textIn contrast to earlier research, evidence for semantic preview benefit in reading has been reported by Hohenstein and Kliegl (Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40, 166–190, 2013) in an alphabetic writing system; they also implied that prior demonstrations of lack of a semantic preview benefit needed to be reexamined. In the present article, we report a rather direct replication of an experiment reported by Rayner, Balota, and Pollatsek (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 473–483, 1986). Using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm, subjects read sentences that contained a target word (razor), but different preview words were initially presented in the sentence. The preview was identical to the target word (i.e., razor), semantically related to the target word (i.e., blade), semantically unrelated to the target word (i.e., sweet), or a visually similar nonword (i.e., razar). When the reader’s eyes crossed an invisible boundary location just to the left of the target word location, the preview changed to the target word. Like Rayner et al. (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 473–483, 1986), we found that fixations on the target word were significantly shorter in the identical condition than in the unrelated condition, which did not differ from the semantically related condition; when an orthographically similar preview had been initially present in the sentence, fixations were shorter than when a semantically unrelated preview had been present. Thus, the present experiment replicates the earlier data reported by Rayner et al. (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 473–483, 1986), indicating evidence for an orthographic preview benefit but a lack of semantic preview benefit in reading English
The role of visual crowding in eye movements during reading: effects of text spacing
No full textVisual crowding, generally defined as the deleterious influence of clutter on visual discrimination, is a form of inhibitory interaction between nearby objects. While the role of crowding in reading has been established in psychophysics research using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigms, how crowding affects additional processes involved in natural reading, including parafoveal processing and saccade targeting, remains unclear. The current study investigated crowding effects on reading via two eye-tracking experiments. Experiment 1 was a sentence-reading experiment incorporating an eye-contingent boundary change in which reader’s parafoveal processing was quantified through comparing reading times after valid or invalid information was presented in the parafovea. Letter spacing was jointly manipulated to compare how crowding affects parafoveal processing. Experiment 2 was a passage-reading experiment with a line spacing manipulation. In addition to replicating previously observed letter spacing effects on global reading parameters (i.e., more but shorter fixations with wider spacing), Experiment 1 found an interaction between preview validity and letter spacing indicating that the efficiency of parafoveal processing was constrained by crowding and visual acuity. Experiment 2 found reliable but subtle influences of line spacing. Participants had shorter fixation durations, higher skipping probabilities, and less accurate return sweeps when line spacing was increased. In addition to extending the literature on the role of crowding to reading in ecologically valid scenarios, the current results inform future research on characterizing the influence of crowding in natural reading and comparing effects of crowding across reader populations
Using E-Z reader to examine the consequences of fixation-location measurement error
No full textThere is an ongoing debate about whether fixation durations during reading are only influenced by the processing difficulty of the words being fixated (i.e., the serial-attention hypothesis) or whether they are also influenced by the processing difficulty of the previous and/or upcoming words (i.e., the attention- gradient hypothesis). This article reports the results of 3 simulations that examine how systematic and random errors in the measurement of fixation locations can generate 2 phenomena that support the attention-gradient hypothesis: parafoveal-on-foveal effects and large spillover effects. These simulations demonstrate how measurement error can produce these effects within the context of a computational model of eye-movement control during reading (E-Z Reader; Reichle, 2011) that instantiates strictly serial allocation of attention, thus demonstrating that these effects do not necessarily provide strong evidence against the serial-attention hypothesis.<br/
Reading, processing and interacting with hypertext on the Web
No full textWe increasingly spend a vast amount of time on the Web and much of that time is spent reading. One of the main differences between reading non-Web based text and reading on the Web is the presence of hyperlinks within the text, linking various related Web content and Web pages together. Some researchers and commentators have claimed that hyperlinks hinder reading because they are a distraction that may have a negative effect on the reader’s ability to process the text. However, very few controlled experiments have been conducted to verify these claims. In the experiments documented here we utilise eye tracking as a new methodology for examining how we read hyperlinked text. There is a well-documented tight link between when and where we look and what we process. Eye movements have been used extensively to help us to understand the cognitive processing that occurs during reading, but there has been very little research into how our reading differs when we read information on the Web
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