TY  - JOUR
A1  - Meixner, Johannes M.
A1  - Nixon, Jessie S.
A1  - Laubrock, Jochen
T1  - The perceptual span is dynamically adjusted in response to foveal load by beginning readers
T2  - Journal of experimental psychology : general
N2  - The perceptual span describes the size of the visual field from which information is obtained during a fixation in reading. Its size depends on characteristics of writing system and reader, but-according to the foveal load hypothesis-it is also adjusted dynamically as a function of lexical processing difficulty. Using the moving window paradigm to manipulate the amount of preview, here we directly test whether the perceptual span shrinks as foveal word difficulty increases. We computed the momentary size of the span from word-based eye-movement measures as a function of foveal word frequency, allowing us to separately describe the perceptual span for information affecting spatial saccade targeting and temporal saccade execution. First fixation duration and gaze duration on the upcoming (parafoveal) word N + 1 were significantly shorter when the current (foveal) word N was more frequent. We show that the word frequency effect is modulated by window size. Fixation durations on word N + 1 decreased with high-frequency words N, but only for large windows, that is, when sufficient parafoveal preview was available. This provides strong support for the foveal load hypothesis. To investigate the development of the foveal load effect, we analyzed data from three waves of a longitudinal study on the perceptual span with German children in Grades 1 to 6. Perceptual span adjustment emerged early in development at around second grade and remained stable in later grades. We conclude that the local modulation of the perceptual span indicates a general cognitive process, perhaps an attentional gradient with rapid readjustment.
KW  - eye movements
KW  - attention
KW  - perceptual span
KW  - foveal load
KW  - reading
KW  - development
Y1  - 2022
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/58462
SN  - 0096-3445
SN  - 1939-2222
VL  - 151
IS  - 6
SP  - 1219
EP  - 1232
PB  - American Psychological Association
CY  - Washington
ER  -