ABSTRACT
Our primary concern in this chapter will be to examine the extent to which there are differences in perceptual processing and eye movements among individuals who are generally considered to be good readers. By good or “skilled” readers we refer to any individual with a normal, adult-sized vocabulary and sufficient command of their written language system. Noteworthy differences in speed notwithstanding, skilled readers are capable of comprehending normal written text with no external assistance and with little conscious effort. However, the categorization would not extend to individuals with language-specific deficits, general cognitive deficits, or those who are still acquiring critical aspects of literacy, such as grade school children who are still being taught to read. Skilled reading is often discussed as if the processes and strategies involved were very much the same for all readers. Is it possible that readers are doing somewhat different things and still coming out with the same end product, namely comprehension of the text? Our primary contention will be that perceptual processing in skilled readers is quite similar for both slow and fast readers (though some differences will be noted below). Thus, eye movement data which reflect relatively “low-level” perceptual processing will be not very different for such readers. However, “higher-level” cognitive processing, particularly processes that allow for varying strategies to come into play, may yield differences between readers and their eye movement data will therefore look somewhat different.
