Parafoveal preview during reading: effects of sentence position

Sarah J. White*, Tessa Warren, Erik D. Reichle

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Two experiments examined parafoveal preview for words located in the middle of sentences and at sentence boundaries. Parafoveal processing was shown to occur for words at sentence-initial, mid-sentence, and sentence-final positions. Both Experiments 1 and 2 showed reduced effects of preview on regressions out for sentence-initial words. In addition, Experiment 2 showed reduced preview effects on first-pass reading times for sentence-initial words. These effects of sentence position on preview could result from either reduced parafoveal processing for sentence-initial words or other processes specific to word reading at sentence boundaries. In addition to the effects of preview, the experiments also demonstrate variability in the effects of sentence wrap-up on different reading measures, indicating that the presence and time course of wrap-up effects may be modulated by text-specific factors. We also report simulations of Experiment 2 using version 10 of E-Z Reader (Reichle, Warren, & McConnell, 2009), designed to explore the possible mechanisms underlying parafoveal preview at sentence boundaries.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1221-1238
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
Volume37
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • reading
  • eye movements
  • E-Z Reader
  • parafoveal preview
  • wrap-up effects

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