Evidence of Semantic Processing in Parafoveal Reading: A Rapid Parallel Visual Presentation (Rpvp) Study.

Danila Rusich,Silvia Primativo,Marika Mauti,Lisa S Arduino,Marialuisa Martelli

doi:10.3390/brainsci11010028

Danila Rusich, Silvia Primativo + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11010028

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Abstract

This study explores whether semantic processing in parafoveal reading in the Italian language is modulated by the perceptual and lexical features of stimuli by analyzing the results of the rapid parallel visual presentation (RPVP) paradigm experiment, which simultaneously presented two words, with one in the fovea and one in the parafovea. The words were randomly sampled from a set of semantically related and semantically unrelated pairs. The accuracy and reaction times in reading the words were measured as a function of the stimulus length and written word frequency. Fewer errors were observed in reading parafoveal words when they were semantically related to the foveal ones, and a larger semantic facilitatory effect was observed when the foveal word was highly frequent and the parafoveal word was short. Analysis of the reaction times suggests that the semantic relation between the two words sped up the naming of the foveal word when both words were short and highly frequent. Altogether, these results add further evidence in favor of the semantic processing of words in the parafovea during reading, modulated by the orthographic and lexical features of the stimuli. The results are discussed within the context of the most prominent models of word processing and eye movement controls in reading.

Highlights

An interesting debate in the literature on reading concerns the nature of the information extracted from words located in the parafovea
It is well known that the foveal region is the region with the highest visual acuity, generally comprising 6–8 characters, and that it is clearly distinguished from the parafoveal region, which extends beyond the foveal region for up to approximately 15–20 characters [1]
In order to investigate the proportion of errors in the different experimental conditions, a logistic regression analysis was run on the binary accuracy data, with participants as repeated measures

Summary

Introduction

An interesting debate in the literature on reading concerns the nature of the information extracted from words located in the parafovea. Despite a decreased visual acuity, accompanied by reduced attentional resources and visual span [2,3], it has been shown that readers can extract some important information from the parafoveal region [4,5]. Two main effects have been described that can provide information regarding the processing of parafoveal elements: the parafoveal preview effect (PPE) and the parafoveal-on-foveal (PoF) effect. The PPE is generally tested by using a display change paradigm such as the boundary paradigm [6], in which a target word in a sentence is previewed by an identical or related word (i.e., valid) or a nonword (i.e., invalid condition) until the reader’s eyes cross an invisible boundary positioned immediately before it. An increase in gaze duration on the parafoveal word was shown when the foveal word was short and the parafoveal word was less frequent [9]

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