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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension
Published on: January 10, 2014
The influence of number of syllables on word skipping during reading
Gemma Fitzsimmons1, Denis Drieghe
1Shackleton Building, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.
Abstract:
In an eye-tracking experiment, participants read sentences containing a monosyllabic (e.g., grain) or a disyllabic (e.g., cargo) five-letter word. Monosyllabic target words were skipped more often than disyllabic target words, indicating that syllabic structure was extracted from the parafovea early enough to influence the decision of saccade target selection. Fixation times on the target word when it was fixated did not show an influence of number of syllables, demonstrating that number of syllables differentially impacts skipping rates and fixation durations during reading. [corrected]
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