ABSTRACT
Two experiments dealing with the use of parafoveal vision in reading and the integration of visual information over successive fixations in reading are presented. Eye position was monitored by a computer-based eye tracking system, and display changes on a cathode-ray tube were made when subjects initiated a saccade. A word was presented in parafoveal vision and subjects made an eye movement to the location of the word. As the eye was making the saccade, the computer replaced the word that was initially displayed with another word. In Experiment 1, subjects made a SAME-DIFFERENT response regarding the word that was present prior to the saccade and the word that was present after the eye movement. In Experiment 2, subjects were required to name the word that was presented after the saccade, and differences in naming times were compared as a function of the word that was present on the cathode-ray tube prior to the saccade. The results are discussed in terms of the types of visual information that readers could obtain at differing distances from the fovea, and how this information is integrated over two fixations.
