TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sperlich, Anja
A1  - Schad, Daniel
A1  - Laubrock, Jochen
T1  - When preview information starts to matter
T2  - Journal of cognitive psychology
N2  - How is reading development reflected in eye-movement measures? How does the perceptual span change during the initial years of reading instruction? Does parafoveal processing require competence in basic word-decoding processes? We report data from the first cross-sectional measurement of the perceptual span of German beginning readers (n = 139), collected in the context of the large longitudinal PIER (Potsdamer Intrapersonale Entwicklungsrisiken/Potsdam study of intra-personal developmental risk factors) study of intrapersonal developmental risk factors. Using the moving-window paradigm, eye movements of three groups of students (Grades 1-3) were measured with gaze-contingent presentation of a variable amount of text around fixation. Reading rate increased from Grades 1-3, with smaller increases for higher grades. Perceptual-span results showed the expected main effects of grade and window size: fixation durations and refixation probability decreased with grade and window size, whereas reading rate and saccade length increased. Critically, for reading rate, first-fixation duration, saccade length and refixation probability, there were significant interactions of grade and window size that were mainly based on the contrast between Grades 3 and 2 rather than Grades 2 and 1. Taken together, development of the perceptual span only really takes off between Grades 2 and 3, suggesting that efficient parafoveal processing presupposes that basic processes of reading have been mastered.
KW  - Eye movements
KW  - German
KW  - Moving window
KW  - Perceptual span
KW  - Reading development
Y1  - 2015
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/38761
SN  - 2044-5911
SN  - 2044-592X
VL  - 27
IS  - 5
SP  - 511
EP  - 530
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Abingdon
ER  -