TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schad, Daniel
A1  - Engbert, Ralf
T1  - The zoom lens of attention simulating shuffled versus normal text reading using the SWIFT model
JF  - Visual cognition
N2  - Assumptions on the allocation of attention during reading are crucial for theoretical models of eye guidance. The zoom lens model of attention postulates that attentional deployment can vary from a sharp focus to a broad window. The model is closely related to the foveal load hypothesis, i.e., the assumption that the perceptual span is modulated by the difficulty of the fixated word. However, these important theoretical concepts for cognitive research have not been tested quantitatively in eye movement models. Here we show that the zoom lens model, implemented in the SWIFT model of saccade generation, captures many important patterns of eye movements. We compared the model's performance to experimental data from normal and shuffled text reading. Our results demonstrate that the zoom lens of attention might be an important concept for eye movement control in reading.
KW  - Computational modelling
KW  - Eye movements
KW  - Foveal load hypothesis
KW  - Perceptual span
KW  - Reading
KW  - Zoom lens model of attention
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2012.670143
SN  - 1350-6285
SN  - 1464-0716
VL  - 20
IS  - 4-5
SP  - 391
EP  - 421
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hove
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sperlich, Anja
A1  - Schad, Daniel
A1  - Laubrock, Jochen
T1  - When preview information starts to matter
BT  - Development of the perceptual span in German beginning readers
JF  - 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
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2014.993990
SN  - 2044-5911
SN  - 2044-592X
VL  - 27
IS  - 5
SP  - 511
EP  - 530
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - Abingdon
ER  -