Lack of semantic activation from unattended text during passage reading

Abstract

Two-line passages were read while eye movements were measured. The first line contained a primary target; directly below the primary target, the second line contained the secondary target. The semantic relatedness of primary and secondary targets was varied. The results showed no reliable effects of semantic relatedness when viewing time on the primary target was examined but some effects of relatedness when viewing time on the secondary target was examined. The results suggest that readers do not obtain semantic information from unattended lines of text during reading.