Eye Movement in Reading
Skilled readers move their eyes during reading on the average of every quarter of a second. During the time that the eye is fixated, new information is brought into the processing system. While the average fixation duration is 200–250 ms (thousandths of a second), the range is from 100 ms to over 500 ms. The distance the eye moves in each saccade (or short rapid movement) is between 1 and 20 characters with the average being 7–9 characters. The saccade lasts for 20-40 ms and during this time vision is suppressed so that no new information is acquired. There is considerable variability in fixations (the point at which a saccade jumps to) and saccades between readers and even for the same person reading a single passage of text. Skilled readers make regressions back to material already read about 15 percent of the time. The main difference between faster and slower readers is that the latter group consistently shows longer average fixation durations, shorter saccades, and more regressions. These basic facts about eye movement have been known for almost a hundred years, but only recently have researchers begun to look at eye movement behavior as a reflection of cognitive processing during reading.
If the perceptual span includes all or many of the words on a line of text, then eye movement measures would not likely reveal much information about cognitive processing; however, if the reader gains useful information only from the word directly focused on, then eye movement behavior could shed light on what role the eyes play in reading disorders such as dyslexia.
The lower line of text simulates the acuity of vision with the relative acuity percentages. The difficulty of recognizing text increases with the distance from the fixation point.
Read more about this topic: Eye Movements In Reading
Famous quotes containing the words eye, movement and/or reading:
“Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note;
So is mine eye enthrallèd to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue’s force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“There is no example in history of a revolutionary movement involving such gigantic masses being so bloodless.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“After reading all that has been written, and after thinking all that can be thought, on the topics of God and the soul, the man who has a right to say that he thinks at all, will find himself face to face with the conclusion that, on these topics, the most profound thought is that which can be the least easily distinguished from the most superficial sentiment.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)