The impact of text repetition on content and function words during reading: further evidence from eye movements

There is ample evidence that reading speed increases when participants read the same text more than once. However, less is known about the impact of text repetition as a function of word class. Some authors suggested that text repetition would mostly benefit content words with little or no effect on function words. In the present study, we examined the effect of multiple readings on the processing of content and function words. Participants were asked to read a short text two times in direct succession. Eye movement analyses revealed the typical multiple readings effect: Repetition decreased the time readers spent fixating words and the probability of fixating critical words. Most importantly, we found that the effect of multiple readings was of the same magnitude for content and function words, and for low- and high-frequency words. Such findings suggest that lexical variables have additive effects on eye movement measures in reading.