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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading
Published on: October 18, 2018
Eye movements and the perceptual span in older and younger readers
Keith Rayner1, Monica S Castelhano, Jinmian Yang
1Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA. krayner@ucsd.edu
Abstract:
The size of the perceptual span (or the span of effective vision) in older readers was examined with the moving window paradigm (G. W. McConkie & K. Rayner, 1975). Two experiments demonstrated that older readers have a smaller and more symmetric span than that of younger readers. These 2 characteristics (smaller and more symmetric span) of older readers may be a consequence of their less efficient processing of nonfoveal information, which results in a riskier reading strategy.

