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The role of global top-down factors in local eye-movement control in reading

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Abstract

Although the development of the field of reading has been impressive, there are a number of issues that still require much more attention. One of these concerns the variability of skilled reading within the individual. This paper explores the topic in three ways: (1) it quantifies the extent to which, two factors, the specific reading task (comprehension vs. word verification) and the format of reading material (sentence vs. passage) influence the temporal aspects of reading as expressed in word-viewing durations; (2) it examines whether they also affect visuomotor aspects of eye-movement control; and (3) determine whether they can modulate local lexical processing. The results reveal reading as a dynamic, interactive process involving semi-autonomous modules, with top-down influences clearly evident in the eye-movement record.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Ralph Radach

  2. Department of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Lynn Huestegge

  3. Department of Computer Science, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Kildare, Ireland

    Ronan Reilly

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  1. Ralph Radach
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  2. Lynn Huestegge
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  3. Ronan Reilly
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Correspondence to Ralph Radach.

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Radach, R., Huestegge, L. & Reilly, R. The role of global top-down factors in local eye-movement control in reading. Psychological Research 72, 675–688 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-008-0173-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-008-0173-3

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