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Eye Movements and Processing Stages in Reading: Relative Contribution of Visual, Lexical, and Contextual Factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Manuel G. Calvo  and
Enrique Meseguer
Manuel G. Calvo*
Affiliation:
University of La Laguna
Enrique Meseguer
Affiliation:
University of La Laguna
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Manuel G. Calvo, Departamento de Psicología Cognitiva, Universidad de La Laguna, 38205 La Laguna, Sta. Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. Fax: 00 34 922 317 461. E-mail: mgcalvo@ull.es
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Abstract

The independent and the combined influence of word length, word frequency, and contextual predictability on eye movements in reading was examined across processing stages under two priming-context conditions. Length, frequency, and predictability were used as predictors in multiple regression analyses, with parafoveal, early, late, and spillover eye movement measures as the dependent variables. There were specific effects of: (a) length, both on where to look (how likely a word was fixated and in which location) and how long to fixate, across all processing stages; (b) frequency, on how long to fixate a word, but not on where to look, at an early processing stage; and (c) predictability, both on how likely a word was fixated and for how long, in late processing stages. The source of influence for predictability was related to global rather than to local contextual priming. The contribution of word length was independent of contextual source. These results are relevant to determine both the time course of the influence of visual, lexical, and contextual factors on eye movements in reading, and which main component of eye movements, that is, location or duration, is affected.

El estudio investiga la influencia específica y la conjunta que la longitud de las palabras, su frecuencia léxica y su predecibilidad contextual tienen sobre los movimientos oculares durante la lectura, a lo largo de varios estadios de procesamiento y en dos condiciones contextuales. Longitud, frecuencia y predecibilidad fueron predictores en un análisis de regresión múltiple, mientras que medidas parafoveales, tempranas, tardías y de arrastre en los movimientos oculares fueron las variables dependientes. Se encontraron efectos específicos de: (a) la longitud, sobre dónde se fija la mirada y durante cuánto tiempo, en todas las fases de procesamiento; (b) la frecuencia léxica, sobre cuánto tiempo dura la fijación, pero no dónde se produce ésta, en una fase temprana de procesamiento; y (c) la predecibilidad, sobre la probabilidad y duración de la fijación, en una fase tardía de procesamiento. La fuente de influencia de la predecibilidad fue global más que local. La contribución de la longitud fue independiente del contexto. Estos resultados son relevantes para determinar el curso temporal de la influencia de factores visuales, léxicos y contextuales sobres los movimientos oculares en la lectura, y qué componente— ubicación y/o duración—es afectado.

Keywords

lengthfrequencypredictabilitycontexteye movementstime coursereadinglongitudfrecuencia léxicapredecibilidadcontextomovimientos ocularescurso temporallectura
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , May 2002 , pp. 66 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

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