166,284 research outputs found

    Reading aloud: eye movements and prosody

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    This study aims to connect data from ocular movements and reading aloud speech to syntactic and discursive properties of texts, in order to understand integrative cognitive processes during reading for understanding and to identify prosodic and eye movements’ indicators of reading fluency. Assuming that in reading aloud there is a close interaction between syntax structure and speech prosody, we collected eye movements and reading speech data from 17 native EP speakers. Eye movements and reading speech produced simultaneously were analyzed and our results show that eyes and voice are both responsive to text complexity and to syntactic and discursive critical loci, as key points of information integration.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Searching for behavioral correlates of text complexity in reading

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    Research on reading attempts to encompass the connection between linguistic proprieties of the reading materials and the cognitive processes for written language processing. Following studies on reading comprehension and fluency using either silent or oral reading, we are now deepening the relation between behavioral outputs – eye movements and prosody - collected in a reading aloud task. We conducted an experiment where 17 adult native speakers of European Portuguese were instructed to read aloud two texts. We put the hypothesis that there will be a strong connection between text complexity, integrative processes and eyes and vocal behavior. To verify the effect of reading complexity, we prepared two passages representing two poles in a scale of complexity. The texts differ in theme and vocabulary, concerning topic familiarity and word frequency, being alike in syntactic and informational structures. Eye movements were registered with an SMI IVIEW X™ HI-SPEED system, and reading speech was recorded with a Logitech® Webcam Pro 9000. First fixation, first pass and total reading time (for eye movement’s analysis), and vowel stressed duration (VSD) and F0 (for prosody analysis) were taken from two critical loci: words in a syntactic boundary (right edge of the clause) and informational boundary (before a period). Results show significant wrap-up effects in information boundaries either in an increase of first pass and total reading times, as in VSD in the most complex text. We observed eye-voice span effects triggered by words of low frequency, longer size or more complex phonological structure in both texts.info:eu-repo/semantics/draf

    Eye Movements of Children and Adults Reading in Three Different Orthographies

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    In this study, we investigated developmental aspects of eye movements during reading of three languages (English, German and Finnish) that vary widely in their orthographic complexity and predictability . Grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules are rather complex in English and German but relatively simple in Finnish. Despite their differences in complexity, the rules in German and Finnish are highly predictable, whereas English has many exceptions. Comparing eye movement development in these three languages, thus, allows us to investigate whether orthographic complexity and predictability have separate effects on eye movement development. Three groups of children, matched on years of reading instruction, along with a group of proficient adult readers in each language were tested. All participants read stimulus materials that were carefully translated and back-translated across all three languages. The length and frequency of 48 target words were manipulated experimentally within the stimulus set. For children, word length effects were stronger in Finnish and German than in English. In addition, in English effects of word frequency were weaker and only present for short words . Generally, English children showed a qualitatively different reading pattern, while German and Finnish children’s reading behavior was rather similar. These results indicate that the predictability of an orthographic system is more important than its complexity for children’s reading development . Adults’ reading behavior, in contrast, was remarkably similar across languages. Our results, thus, demonstrate that eye movements are sensitive to language-specific features in children’s reading, but become more homogenous as reading skill matures

    Effects of word predictability on eye movements during Arabic reading

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    Contextual predictability influences both the probability and duration of eye fixations on words when reading Latinate alphabetic scripts like English and German. However, it is unknown whether word predictability influences eye movements in reading similarly for Semitic languages like Arabic, which are alphabetic languages with very different visual and linguistic characteristics. Such knowledge is nevertheless important for establishing the generality of mechanisms of eye-movement control across different alphabetic writing systems. Accordingly, we investigated word predictability effects in Arabic in two eye-movement experiments. Both produced shorter fixation times for words with high compared to low predictability, consistent with previous findings. Predictability did not influence skipping probabilities for (four- to eight-letter) words of varying length and morphological complexity (Experiment 1). However, it did for short (three- to four-letter) words with simpler structures (Experiment 2). We suggest that word-skipping is reduced, and affected less by contextual predictability, in Arabic compared to Latinate alphabetic reading, because of specific orthographic and morphological characteristics of the Arabic script

    Portable Eyetracking: A Study of Natural Eye Movements

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    Visual perception, operating below conscious awareness, effortlessly provides the experience of a rich representation of the environment, continuous in space and time. Conscious visual perception is made possible by the \u27foveal compromise,\u27 the combination of the high-acuity fovea and a sophisticated suite of eye movements. Our illusory visual experience cannot be understood by introspection, but monitoring eye movements lets us probe the processes of visual perception. Four tasks representing a wide range of complexity were used to explore visual perception; image quality judgments, map reading, model building, and hand-washing. Very short fixation durations were observed in all tasks, some as short as 33 msec. While some tasks showed little variation in eye movement metrics, differences in eye movement patterns and high-level strategies were observed in the model building and hand-washing tasks. Performance in the hand-washing task revealed a new type of eye movement. \u27Planful\u27 eye movements were made to objects well in advance of a subject\u27s interaction with the object. Often occurring in the middle of another task, they provide \u27overlapping\u27 temporal information about the environment providing a mechanism to produce our conscious visual experience

    Arabic reading: normal behaviour and treatment in patients with hemianopic alexia

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    In reading research, reading speed (single-word reading and text-reading) and eye movement efficiency is used to investigate cognitive processes during reading. Specifically, I am interested in reading speed and eye movement behaviour in Arabic-reading normal adults and patients with Hemianopic Alexia (HA) while reading Arabic text. Following a hemianopia (most commonly caused by stroke), a patient’s reading ability may be affected, and this may be exacerbated depending on the visual and orthographic complexity of the language. Research on Arabic reading is scarce, and no empirical studies on Arabic readers with HA have been conducted; thus, little is known about the performance of Arabic readers with HA. Almost all of the world literature on acquired alexia (of any form) is on left-toright-reading patients. There are 234 million Arabic readers in the Arab states (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2014). So, if a stroke occurs, approximately 20% of these readers with a stroke may develop HA (Isaeff, Wallar, Duncan, 1974). HA has a negative impact on reading and related activities of daily living. If work heavily depends on reading, then their job may be at risk. The primary aim of my thesis was to help these patients. By developing a novel online assessment and treatment package (an app) for Arabic readers with HA called Arabic-Read Right (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/aphasialab/apps/arabic_rr.html) I hoped to 1) develop suitable materials to aid in the clinical diagnosis of HA and 2) provide effective and empirically supported reading treatment for HA Arabic readers. I did this in a series of experiments designed to (i) contribute to our overall understanding of Arabic reader’s reading speed and eye movements, (ii) expand on our understanding of oculomotor processing in Arabic, and (iii) investigate text reading and eye movements in Arabic-reading patients with HA, both before and after treatment with a developed online rehabilitation assessment and treatment package: Arabic-Read Right

    Sight-reading of violinists: eye movements anticipate the musical flow

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    When sight-reading a piece of music the eyes constantly scan the score slightly ahead of music execution. This separation between reading and acting is commonly termed eye-hand span and can be expressed in two ways: as anticipation in notes or in time. Previous research, predominantly in piano players, found skill-dependent differences of eye-hand span. To date no study has explored visual anticipation in violinists. The present study investigated how structural properties of a piece of music affect the eye-hand span in a group of violinists. To this end eye movements and bow reversals were recorded synchronously while musicians sight-read a piece of music. The results suggest that structural differences of the score are reflected in the eye-hand span in a way similar to skill level. Specifically, the piece with higher complexity was associated with lower anticipation in notes, longer fixation duration and a tendency for more regressive fixations. Anticipation in time, however, remained the same (~1s) independently of the score played but was correlated with playing tempo. We conclude that the eye-hand span is not only influenced by the experience of the musician, but also by the structure of the score to be playe

    Eye movement patterns of Down syndrome readers during sentence processing: An exploratory study

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    Eye movements were recorded in a group of Down syndrome (DS) readers as they processed sentences of differing lexical and syntactic complexity. The pattern of eye movements during reading was in line with comprehension scores and moreover revealed differences in processing that comprehension scores alone did not. Future research in DS readers with this methodology is both warranted and encouragedLors de cette étude, nous avons enregistré les mouvements oculaires de lecteurs atteints de trisomie 21 pendant qu'ils lisaient des phrases comportant différents niveaux de complexité lexicale et syntaxique. Nous avons remarqué en premier lieu que les patterns des mouvements oculaires pendant la lecture étaient corrélés avec les performances observées dans une tâche de compréhension mais, qui plus est, mettaient en évidence des différences de traitement que la tâche de compréhension seule ne révélait pas. Ces données préliminaires militent en faveur de plus amples développements parmi cette population grâce à l'utilisation de ce dispositif

    Using eye-tracking to detect reading difficulties

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    Taking into account the study of Luegi (2006), where eye movements of 20 Portuguese university students while reading text passages were analyzed, in this article we discuss some methodological issues concerning eye tracking measures to evaluate reading difficulties. Relating syntactic complexity, grammaticality and ambiguity to eye movements, we will discuss the use of many different dependent variables that indicate the immediate and delayed processes in text processing. We propose a new measure that we called Progression-Path which permits analyzing, in the critical region, what happens when the reader proceeds on the sentence instead of going backwards to solve a problem that s/he found (which is the most common expected behavior but not the only one, as is illustrated by some of our examples).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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