Abstract
Readers occasionally move their eyes to prior text. We distinguish two types of these movements (regressions). One type consists of relatively large regressions that seek to re-process prior text and to revise represented linguistic content to improve comprehension. The other consists of relatively small regressions that seek to correct inaccurate or premature oculomotor programming to improve visual word recognition. Large regressions are guided by spatial and linguistic knowledge, while small regressions appear to be exclusively guided by knowledge of spatial location. There are substantial individual differences in the use of regressions, and college-level readers often do not regress even when this would improve sentence comprehension.
Highlights
Visual text consists of symbols that are spatially ordered along horizontal rows or vertical columns.Typically, a large number of symbols is visible concurrently, and they are visible for an extended period until a screen is changed or a page is turned
The extraction of linguistic information during reading requires modality-specific skills. These skills include the programming of eye movements that position the eyes at—or near—individual words, as high acuity vision is confined to a relatively small retinal area: The fovea and adjoining parafovea
The spatial targeting of eye movement programming needs to be coordinated with linguistic processing, so that high acuity vision is moved to words when their identification becomes relevant for text comprehension
Summary
Visual text consists of symbols that are spatially ordered along horizontal rows or vertical columns. The extraction of linguistic information during reading requires modality-specific skills. With reading, these skills include the programming of eye movements that position the eyes at—or near—individual words, as high acuity vision is confined to a relatively small retinal area: The fovea and adjoining parafovea. The spatial targeting of eye movement programming needs to be coordinated with linguistic processing, so that high acuity vision is moved to words when their identification becomes relevant for text comprehension. A distinct subset of saccades, 5–20%, moves the eyes in a direction that is opposite to word order [1,2,3,4]. We review individual differences in the use of regressions and consider potential implications for the teaching of reading
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