On measuring the impact of hyperlinks on reading

We increasingly spend a vast amount of time on the Web and much of that time is spent reading. One of the main differences between reading non-Web based text and reading on the Web is the presence of hyperlinks within the text, linking various related Web content and Web pages together. Some researchers and commentators have claimed that hyperlinks hinder reading because they are a distraction that may have a negative effect on the reader’s ability to process the text. However, very few controlled experiments have been conducted to verify these claims.In the experiments documented here we utilise eye tracking as a new methodology for examining how we read hyperlinked text. An eye tracker was used to observe participant’s behaviour while reading. The results showed that hyperlinked text did not generally have a negative impact upon reading behaviour. However, participants did show a tendency to re-read sentences that contained hyperlinked uncommon (low frequency) words. This suggests that hyperlinks highlight important information to the reader and the hyperlinks add additional content which for more difficult concepts, invites rereading of the preceding text

Skim reading: an adaptive strategy for reading on the web

It has been suggested that readers spend a great deal of time skim reading on the Web and that if readers skim read they reduce their comprehension of what they have read. There have been a number of studies exploring skim reading, but relatively little exists on the skim reading of hypertext and Webpages. In the experiment documented here, we utilised eye tracking methodology to explore how readers skim read hypertext and how hyperlinks affect reading behaviour. The results show that the readers read faster when they were skim reading and comprehension was reduced. However, the presence of hyperlinks seemed to assist the readers in picking out important information when skim reading. We suggest that readers engage in an adaptive information foraging strategy where they attempt to minimise comprehension loss while maintaining a high reading speed. Readers use hyperlinks as markers to suggest important information and use them to read through the text in an efficient and effective way. This suggests that skim reading may not be as damaging to comprehension when reading hypertext, but it does mean that the words we choose to hyperlink become very important to comprehension for those skim reading text on the Web

Presenting GECO : an eyetracking corpus of monolingual and bilingual sentence reading

This paper introduces GECO, the Ghent Eye-tracking Corpus, a monolingual and bilingual corpus of eye-tracking data of participants reading a complete novel. English monolinguals and Dutch-English bilinguals read an entire novel, which was presented in paragraphs on the screen. The bilinguals read half of the novel in their first language, and the other half in their second language. In this paper we describe the distributions and descriptive statistics of the most important reading time measures for the two groups of participants. This large eye-tracking corpus is perfectly suited for both exploratory purposes as well as more directed hypothesis testing, and it can guide the formulation of ideas and theories about naturalistic reading processes in a meaningful context. Most importantly, this corpus has the potential to evaluate the generalizability of monolingual and bilingual language theories and models to reading of long texts and narratives

Lack of semantic parafoveal preview benefit in reading revisited

In contrast to earlier research, evidence for semantic preview benefit in reading has been reported by Hohenstein and Kliegl (Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40, 166–190, 2013) in an alphabetic writing system; they also implied that prior demonstrations of lack of a semantic preview benefit needed to be reexamined. In the present article, we report a rather direct replication of an experiment reported by Rayner, Balota, and Pollatsek (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 473–483, 1986). Using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm, subjects read sentences that contained a target word (razor), but different preview words were initially presented in the sentence. The preview was identical to the target word (i.e., razor), semantically related to the target word (i.e., blade), semantically unrelated to the target word (i.e., sweet), or a visually similar nonword (i.e., razar). When the reader’s eyes crossed an invisible boundary location just to the left of the target word location, the preview changed to the target word. Like Rayner et al. (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 473–483, 1986), we found that fixations on the target word were significantly shorter in the identical condition than in the unrelated condition, which did not differ from the semantically related condition; when an orthographically similar preview had been initially present in the sentence, fixations were shorter than when a semantically unrelated preview had been present. Thus, the present experiment replicates the earlier data reported by Rayner et al. (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 40, 473–483, 1986), indicating evidence for an orthographic preview benefit but a lack of semantic preview benefit in reading English

A new high-sensitive nephelometric method for assaying serum C-reactive protein based on phosphocholine interaction

Background: The measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations has been of interest as a classical marker of acute phase response; in addition, it has been of particular interest in cardiovascular risk stratification where high-sensitive measurements are necessary. Since CRP is able to bind phospholipids (mainly phosphocholine) in the presence of calcium ions, we explored the possibilities of developing a high-sensitive affordable nephelometric CRP assay based on diluted soy oil emulsions. Methods: Serum (or heparinized plasma) was mixed with Intralipid 20% in Tris-calcium buffer (pH 7.5). After 12 min of incubation at 37 degrees C, the CRP-phospholipid complexes were measured by nephelometry (840 nm) using a BN II nephelometer (Siemens). Results (n=97) were compared with those obtained using a typical immunoturbidimetric method (Roche). Results: Imprecision of the functional nephelometric assay was evaluated using three human serum pools. Within-run coefficients of variation (CVs) for level 1, 2 and 3 were 6.1%, 4.7% and 4.5%, respectively, and between-run CVs were 17.6%, 18.8% and 11.3%, respectively. Good agreement was obtained between the functional nephelometric and the immunoturbidimetric CRP assay in a concentration range from 0.1 mg/L to 50 mg/L (r=0.884). A logit-log calibration curve was made between 0.056 mg/L and 1.785 mg/L. The limit of detection was 0.5 mg/L. Conclusions: The functional nephelometric CRP assay allowed high-sensitive CRP determinations in serum and plasma. Since the assay is species independent, the described functional CRP assay could be used for veterinary purposes as well

Revolution in times of Eurosklerosis? The case of the first Lomé Convention

This article examines the dynamics leading to the fi rst Lomé Convention between the EC and the former colonies of its member states. In 1975 the EC and the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacifi c) countries managed to conclude a comprehensive trade and development agreement, despite the period of eursclerosis and economic crisis. This article aims to explain this apparent paradox. First, we examine why Lomé has been perceived as a revolutionary agreement. In this respect four features of the agreement are elaborated: (1) its broad geographical reach, (2) its wide scope, (3) the development friendly nature of its trade regime, and (4) the EC’s commitment to an equal partnership. Subsequently, we analyze the EC’s motives to include these distinguishing features in the Convention. Based on a research in the EU records and some private collections, this study comes to the conclusion that this ‘revolutionary’ agreement was not the result of ambitious ideas about development, but stemmed from historical relations and practical consideration. Lomé I was to a large extent the continuation of previous policies by France and the United Kingdom towards their former colonies, and these two EC member states have largely shaped the content and nature of the agreement through intergovernmental bargaining. However, in times of eurosclerosis it might be useful to affirm Europe as an ambitious international actor as a response to the internal legitimacy crisis

Investigating eye movement acquisition and analysis technologies as a causal factor in differential prevalence of crossed and uncrossed fixation disparity during reading and dot scanning

Previous studies examining binocular coordination during reading have reported conflicting results in terms of the nature of disparity (e.g. Kliegl, Nuthmann, &amp; Engbert (Journal of Experimental Psychology General 135:12-35, 2006); Liversedge, White, Findlay, &amp; Rayner (Vision Research 46:2363-2374, 2006). One potential cause of this inconsistency is differences in acquisition devices and associated analysis technologies. We tested this by directly comparing binocular eye movement recordings made using SR Research EyeLink 1000 and the Fourward Technologies Inc. DPI binocular eye-tracking systems. Participants read sentences or scanned horizontal rows of dot strings; for each participant, half the data were recorded with the EyeLink, and the other half with the DPIs. The viewing conditions in both testing laboratories were set to be very similar. Monocular calibrations were used. The majority of fixations recorded using either system were aligned, although data from the EyeLink system showed greater disparity magnitudes. Critically, for unaligned fixations, the data from both systems showed a majority of uncrossed fixations. These results suggest that variability in previous reports of binocular fixation alignment is attributable to the specific viewing conditions associated with a particular experiment (variables such as luminance and viewing distance), rather than acquisition and analysis software and hardware.<br/

Is orthographic information from multiple parafoveal words processed in parallel: an eye- tracking study

In the current study we investigated whether orthographic information available from one upcoming parafoveal word influences the processing of another parafoveal word. Across two experiments we used the boundary paradigm (Rayner, 1975) to present participants with an identity preview of the two words after the boundary (e.g. hot pan), a preview in which two letters were transposed between these words (e.g. hop tan), or a preview in which the same two letters were substituted (e.g. hob fan). We hypothesized that if these two words were processed in parallel in the parafovea then we may observe significant preview benefits for the condition in which the letters were transposed between words relative to the condition in which the letters were substituted. However, no such effect was observed, with participants fixating the words for the same amount of time in both conditions. This was the case both when the transposition was made between the final and first letter of the two words (e.g. hop tan as a preview of hot pan; Experiment 1) and when the transposition maintained within word letter position (e.g. pit hop as a preview of hit pop; Experiment 2). The implications of these findings are considered in relation to serial and parallel lexical processing during reading.<br/

Spelling ability selectively predicts the magnitude of disruption in unspaced text reading

We examined the effect of individual differences in written language proficiency on unspaced text reading in a large sample of skilled adult readers who were assessed on reading comprehension and spelling ability. Participants’ eye movements were recorded as they read sentences containing a low or high frequency target word, presented with standard interword spacing, or in one of three unsegmented text conditions that either preserved or eliminated word boundary information. The average data replicated previous studies: unspaced text reading was associated with increased fixation durations, a higher number of fixations, more regressions, reduced saccade length, and an inflation of the word frequency effect. The individual differences results provided insight into the mechanisms contributing to these effects. Higher reading ability was associated with greater overall reading speed and fluency in all conditions. In contrast, spelling ability selectively modulated the effect of interword spacing with poorer spelling ability predicting greater difficulty across the majority of sentence- and word-level measures. These results suggest that high quality lexical representations allowed better spellers to extract lexical units from unfamiliar text forms, inoculating them against the disruptive effects of being deprived of spacing information.Australian Research Counci

Reading sentences of uniform word length: evidence for the adaptation of the preferred saccade length during reading

In the current study we investigated the effect of removing word length variability within sentences on spatial aspects of eye movements during reading. Participants read sentences that were uniform in terms of word length, with each sentence consisting entirely of three, four, or five letter words, or a combination of these word lengths. Several interesting findings emerged. Adaptation of the preferred saccade length occurred for sentences with different uniform word length; participants would be more accurate at making short saccades while reading uniform sentences of three letter words, while they would be more accurate at making long saccades while reading uniform sentences of five letter words. Furthermore, word skipping was affected such that three and four letter words were more likely, and five letter words less likely, to be directly fixated in uniform compared to non-uniform sentences. It is argued that saccadic targeting during reading is highly adaptable and flexible towards the characteristics of the text currently being read, as opposed to the idea implemented in most current models of eye movement control during reading that readers develop a preference for making saccades of a certain length across a lifetime of experience with a given language<br/