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The influence of semantic context on initial eye landing sites in words

Lavigne, Frédéric and Vitu, Françoise and d'Ydewalle, Géry (2000) The influence of semantic context on initial eye landing sites in words. [Journal (Paginated)]

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Abstract

To determine the role of ongoing processing on eye guidance in reading, two studies examined the effects of semantic context on the eyes' initial landing position in words of different levels of processing diffculty. Results from both studies clearly indicate a shift of the initial fixation location towards the end of the words for words that can be predicted from a prior semantic context. However, shifts occur only in high-frequency words and with prior fixations close to the beginning of the target word. These results suggest that ongoing perceptual and linguistic processes can affect the decision of where to send the eyes next in reading. They are explained in terms of the easiness of processing associated with the target words when located in parafoveal vision. It is concluded that two critical factors might help observing effects of linguistic variables on initial landing sites, namely, the frequency of the target word and the position where the eyes are launched from as regards to the beginning of the target word. Results also provide evidence for an early locus of semantic context effects in reading.

Item Type:Journal (Paginated)
Keywords:Sentence reading eye movements semantic priming context landing site word processing
Subjects:Psychology > Cognitive Psychology
Psychology > Perceptual Cognitive Psychology
Psychology > Psycholinguistics
ID Code:1507
Deposited By: LAVIGNE, Frédéric
Deposited On:22 May 2001
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:54

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