Search results for "Word length"
showing 10 items of 11 documents
A dynamic adjustment model of saccade lengths in reading for word-spaced orthographies : evidence from simulations and invisible boundary experiments
2021
Contemporary models of eye movement control in reading assume a discrete target word selection process preceding saccade length computation, while the selection itself is assumed to be driven by word identification processes. However, a potentially more parsimonious, dynamic adjustment view allows both next word length and its content (e.g. orthographic) to modulate saccade length in a continuous manner. Based on a recently proposed center-based saccade length account (a new regression model of forward saccade length is introduced and validated in a simulation study. Further, additional simulations and gaze-contingent invisible boundary experiments were used to study the cognitive mechanism…
The effects of interletter spacing in visual-word recognition.
2010
Despite the importance of determining the effects of interletter spacing on visual-word recognition, this issue has often been neglected in the literature. The goal of the present study is to shed some light on this topic. The rationale is that a thin increase in interletter spacing, as in casino, may reduce lateral interference among internal letters without destroying a word's integrity and/or allow a more precise encoding of a word's letter positions. Here we examined whether identification times for word stimuli in a lexical decision task were faster when the target word had a slightly wider than default interletter spacing value relative to the default settings (e.g., casino vs. casino…
Dissociating spatial and letter-based word length effects observed in readers’ eye movement patterns
2011
In previous eye movement research on word length effects, spatial width has been confounded with the number of letters. McDonald (2006) unconfounded these factors by rendering all words in sentences in constant spatial width. In the present study, the Arial font with proportional letter spacing was used for varying the number of letters while equating for spatial width, while the Courier font with monospaced letter spacing was used to measure the contribution of spatial width to the observed word length effect. Number of letters in words affected single fixation duration on target words, whereas words’ spatial width determined fixation locations in words and the probability of skipping a wo…
The role of letters and syllables in typical and dysfluent reading in a transparent orthography
2012
The role of letters and syllables in typical and dysfluent 2nd grade reading in Finnish, a transparent orthography, was assessed by lexical decision and naming tasks. Typical readers did not show reliable word length effects in lexical decision, suggesting establishment of parallel letter processing. However, there were small effects of word syllable structure in both tasks suggesting the presence of some sublexical processing also. Dysfluent readers showed large word length effects in both tasks indicating decoding at the letterphoneme level. When lexical access was required in a lexical decision task, dyslexics additionally chunked the letters into syllables. Response duration measure rev…
Influence of reading skill and word length on fixation-related brain activity in school-aged children during natural reading
2019
Word length is one of the main determinants of eye movements during reading and has been shown to influence slow readers more strongly than typical readers. The influence of word length on reading in individuals with different reading skill levels has been shown in separate eye-tracking and electroencephalography studies. However, the influence of reading difficulty on cortical correlates of word length effect during natural reading is unknown. To investigate how reading skill is related to brain activity during natural reading, we performed an exploratory analysis on our data set from a previous study, where slow reading (N = 27) and typically reading (N = 65) 12-to-13.5-year-old children …
Fine and Wilf's Theorem for Three periods and a Generalization of Sturmian Words
1999
AbstractWe extend the theorem of Fine and Wilf to words having three periods. We then define the set 3-PER of words of maximal length for which such result does not apply. We prove that the set 3-PER and the sequences of complexity 2n + 1, introduced by Arnoux and Rauzy to generalize Sturmian words, have the same set of factors.
Dual-stage and dual-deficit? Word recognition processes during text reading across the reading fluency continuum
2021
AbstractCentral questions in the study of visual word recognition and developmental dyslexia are whether early lexical activation precedes and supports decoding (a dual-stage view) or not (dual-route view), and the locus of deficits in dysfluent reading. The dual-route view predicts early word frequency and length interaction, whereas the dual-stage view predicts word frequency effect to precede the interaction effect. These predictions were tested on eye movements data collected from (n = 152) children aged 9–10 among whom reading dysfluency was overrepresented. In line with the dual-stage view, the results revealed an early word frequency effect in first fixation duration followed by robu…
Difficulties of Drivers With Dyslexia When Reading Traffic Signs: Analysis of Reading, Eye Gazes, and Driving Performance
2018
A group of adult individuals with dyslexia and a matched group of normally reading individuals participated in a driving simulation experiment. Participants were asked to read the word presented on every direction traffic sign encountered along a route, as far as possible from the sign, maintaining driving performance. Word frequency and word length were manipulated as within-subject factors. We analyzed (a) reading accuracy, (b) how far the sign was when the participant started to give the response, (c) where the participant looked during the time leading up to the response, and (d) the variability of the vehicle’s speed during that time and during driving on similar segments of the route…
Sublexical effects on eye movements during repeated reading of words and pseudowords in Finnish
2011
The role of different orthographic units (letters, syllables, words) in reading of orthographically transparent Finnish language was studied by independently manipulating the number of letters (NoL) and syllables (NoS) in words and pseudowords and by recording eye movements during repeated reading aloud of these items. Fluent adult readers showed evidence for using larger orthographic units in (pseudo)word recoding, whereas dysfluent children seem to be stuck in a letter-based decoding strategy, as lexicality and item repetition decreased the NoL effect only among adult readers. The NoS manipulation produced weak repetition effects in both groups. However, dysfluent children showed evidence…
Reading traffic signs while driving: Are linguistic word properties relevant in a complex, dynamic environment?
2019
When driving a vehicle, do we read the words displayed on traffic signs just as we do in more standard conditions? In the driving context, stimulus quality is generally worse, and reading has to be performed at the same time as we are doing other tasks. In the present work, we examined the effects of word frequency and word length on reading in such circumstances. A stimulus presentation mimicking the approach to the traffic sign increased the effect of word frequency, but not the effect of word length, on reading latency. In addition, performing the reading task while driving along a simulated route produced similar results. Therefore, in the context of the driving activity, the advantage …