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Related Experiment Videos

Fixation location effects on fixation durations during reading: an inverted optimal viewing position effect.

F Vitu1, G W McConkie, P Kerr

  • 1CNRS, Université René Descartes, EPHE Laboratoire de Psychologie Expérimentale, 71 avenue Edouard Vaillant, 92774, Cedex, Boulognr-Bilancourt, France. francoise.vitu@psycho.univ-paris5.fr

Vision Research
|November 24, 2001
PubMed
Summary

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Reading eye movements show an unexpected pattern. Fixations are longest at word centers, challenging the Optimal Viewing Position effect and suggesting complex influences on reading behavior.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • The Optimal Viewing Position (OVP) effect suggests faster word identification when gaze is near word centers.
  • Previous research focused on identification speed, not fixation duration during reading.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if the OVP effect applies to reading, by examining the relationship between eye fixation position within a word and fixation duration.
  • To explore alternative explanations for observed phenomena in reading eye movements.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of three large eye movement corpora (adults and children).
  • Examination of fixation position within words and corresponding fixation durations.
  • Investigation of relationships between successive fixations and fixation durations.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • An inverted OVP curve was observed: mean fixation durations were longest, not shortest, at word centers.
  • A new phenomenon, the Saccade Distance effect, was identified: longer prior saccade distances correlated with longer current fixation durations.
  • These findings contradict established oculomotor and cognitive theories of eye movement control in reading.

Conclusions:

  • Reading fixation durations are influenced by factors beyond simple OVP, including word-level processing and saccade characteristics.
  • The findings necessitate revisions to current models of eye movement control during reading.
  • Reading involves complex interactions between perceptual, oculomotor, and linguistic factors.