Oculomotor control during reading

• Main Author: Cutter, Michael George
• Other Authors: Liversedge, Simon ; Drieghe, Denis
• Published: University of Southampton 2017
• Subjects: 612.8
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.720189

The work presented in this thesis explores several issues relevant to the understanding of oculomotor control during reading, and theoretical accounts of this issue. In Chapter 1 I give a summary of prior research investigating the factors that determine where and for how long the eyes fixate during reading, and how information is integrated across multiple fixations. Furthermore, I outline how current models of oculomotor control during reading can account for these various findings. The research I present in the following empirical chapters then aims to extend our understanding of oculomotor control during reading. In Chapter 2 I present an investigation into whether spaced compound words, such as teddy bear, are processed in a similar manner to single long words or as two separate words. It is found that these multi-word units are indeed processed as single long words, with information being processed earlier than would be expected of two separate words. In Chapter 3 I investigate whether orthographic information from one parafoveal word influences the processing of an adjacent parafoveal word, finding that the processing of information from these two words seems to be independent. In Chapter 4 I examine the extent to which the oculomotor targeting system is flexible in relation to the mean word length in the text currently being read, finding that both word skipping behaviour and the saccade length at which readers would most accurately land in the centre of an upcoming word adapted. Finally, in Chapter 5 I explore how well the models of oculomotor control outlined in Chapter 1 are able to account for my findings, as well as discussing the common implications of these studies for our theoretical understanding. Finally, I outline some ways in which the research presented can be extended in the future to further increase our knowledge of oculomotor control during reading.