Eye movement control in reading: updating the E-Z Reader model to account for initial fixation locations and refixations

In this chapter, we describe recent work in which we (Reichle, Rayner and Pollatsek, 1999) updated the E-Z Reader model (Reichle, Pollatsek, Fisher and Rayner, 1998) to account for initial landing positions in words and refixations during reading. Prior simulations by Reilly and O’Regan (1998) suggested that fixation locations are primarily determined by word length information, and that the identification of words plays only a minimal role in deciding where to move the eyes. This claim appears to be problematic for the E-Z Reader model in that within the model lexical access is the engine that drives the eyes forward during reading. However, we show that a newer version of E-Z Reader which still assumes that lexical access is the engine driving eye movements, accurately predicts the locations of fixations and within-word refixations.