The Effects of Context upon Speed of Reading, Eye Movements and Eye-voice Span

Abstract

Subjects read aloud 200-word passages of statistical approximations up to the 8th order. Their eye-movements were recorded together with a trace of the speech output. Speed of reading, using the syllable as the unit of measurement, increased up to the 5th order for slow readers. Fast readers, on the other hand, further increased their speed to the 6th order. This result had been predicted from a hypothesis that fast readers use contextual cues more efficiently. Measures of the material in the eye-voice span showed an increase up to the 8th order. Fast readers had a larger material span than slow readers beyond the 5th order, a result paralleling the differences in speed increase. It is suggested that the eye-voice span measured in time is dependent upon the chosen reading speed and the material span. From the eye-movement records there was no variation of the mean duration of fixation between passages, or between fast and slow readers. The average value was about 240 millisec. The number of both forward and regressive eye movements decreased with increase in contextual constraint up to the 5th or 6th order, i.e. with increase in speed of reading. Fast readers were superior to slow readers in both these respects. The effect of decreasing contextual constraint was to produce more regressive movements together with a slightly smaller mean saccade.