Two stages of parafoveal processing during reading: Evidence from a display change detection task

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Visual Perception
• Reading Science

Background:

• The cognitive mechanisms underlying reading, particularly parafoveal processing, are not fully understood.
• Display change detection paradigms offer a window into preattentional processing during reading.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if display change detection relies on orthographic regularity.
• To determine if the processing difficulty of a pre-boundary word affects display change detection.
• To examine the relationship between display change detection and lexical processing.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a display change detection paradigm.
• Manipulated the wordlikeness of previews (wordlike vs. nonwordlike).
• Assessed sensitivity to display changes and effects on target word processing.

Main Results:

• Participants were more sensitive to display changes following nonwordlike previews compared to wordlike previews.
• The preview benefit for the target word was not influenced by the wordlikeness of the preview.
• No effect of preboundary word frequency on display change detection was observed.

Conclusions:

• Display change detection and lexical processing appear to involve separate cognitive mechanisms.
• Parafoveal processing may occur in two stages: an early orthographic preattentional stage and a later attention-dependent lexical access stage.