TY - JOUR A1 - Sperlich, Anja A1 - Meixner, Johannes A1 - Laubrock, Jochen T1 - Development of the perceptual span in reading BT - A longitudinal study JF - Journal of experimental child psychology N2 - The perceptual span is a standard measure of parafoveal processing, which is considered highly important for efficient reading. Is the perceptual span a stable indicator of reading performance? What drives its development? Do initially slower and faster readers converge or diverge over development? Here we present the first longitudinal data on the development of the perceptual span in elementary school children. Using the moving window technique, eye movements of 127 German children in three age groups (Grades 1, 2, and 3 in Year 1) were recorded at two time points (T1 and T2) 1 year apart. Introducing a new measure of the perceptual span, nonlinear mixed-effects modeling was used to separate window size effects from asymptotic reading performance. Cross-sectional differences were well replicated longitudinally. Asymptotic reading rate increased monotonously with grade, but in a decelerating fashion. A significant change in the perceptual span was observed only between Grades 2 and 3. Together with results from a cross-lagged panel model, this suggests that the perceptual span increases as a consequence of relatively well established word reading. Stabilities of observed and predicted reading rates were high after Grade 1, whereas the perceptual span was only moderately stable for all grades. Comparing faster and slower readers as assessed at T1, in general, a pattern of stable between-group differences emerged rather than a compensatory pattern; second and third graders even showed a Matthew effect in reading rate and the perceptual span, respectively. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. KW - Longitudinal study KW - Reading development KW - Eye movements KW - Perceptual span KW - Moving window KW - Nonlinear mixed-effects modeling Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.02.007 SN - 0022-0965 SN - 1096-0457 VL - 146 SP - 181 EP - 201 PB - Elsevier CY - New York 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 -