Spelling ability influences early letter encoding during reading: Evidence from return-sweep eye movements

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Reading Science
• Ophthalmology

Background:

• Research on individual differences in eye movements typically focuses on single-line text.
• The influence of reading and spelling ability on eye movements during multiline text, particularly around return-sweeps, is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how reading and spelling abilities affect eye movement parameters during multiline text reading.
• To examine the influence of these abilities on return-sweep and corrective saccade characteristics.

Main Methods:

• 120 participants read multiline texts.
• Eye movement data, including saccade targeting and fixation durations, were analyzed.
• Participants' reading and spelling abilities were assessed.

Main Results:

• Less-skilled readers initiated return-sweeps closer to line ends and made more undershoot errors.
• Reading ability affected fixation durations across the text, except for those following return-sweep errors.
• Spelling ability influenced fixations only after accurate return-sweeps, where parafoveal processing was absent.

Conclusions:

• Lexical quality, influenced by spelling ability, affects early letter encoding and meaning access.
• Individual differences in reading and spelling skills significantly impact eye movement control during multiline reading.
• Eye movement patterns reveal distinct strategies employed by readers of varying skill levels.