This application for a Research Scientist Award has four broad objectives. The first is to continue to investigate perceptual processes in reading. This research will focus on the types of codes that are used in integrating information across eye movements and the accrual of information during an eye fixation. A second objective is to use modeling techniques to simulate eye movements and reading behavior. The goal here is to develop formal models that can predict where readers will fixate and for how long they will fixate during reading. The third objective is to extend the applicant's prior research on reading to the perception of visual scenes. Experiments are designed to examine the characteristics of the perceptual span during scene perception and the types of information integrated across fixations using photographic images rather than the line drawings used in previous research. The fourth goal is to use eye movement techniques to investigate on-line language processing. The studies in this section focus on how readers deal with ambiguity and the extent to which discourse factors influence on-line decisions about ambiguous parts of a text. The experiments will use techniques that have been developed in the applicant's laboratory over the past 20 years. In these techniques, changes in text are made contingent on the location of the reader's eye. The changes may take place during a saccade or during an eye fixation. Various characteristics of eye movements are measured using an eyetracker. The empirical data collected and the results of the modeling work should help to develop a better model of the processes involved in skilled reading. A better understanding of skilled reading, in turn, should be useful in developing instructional methods for children learning to read and better remedial methods for those who do not read well.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Scientist Award (K05)
Project #
5K05MH001255-05
Application #
2889832
Study Section
Perception and Cognition Review Committee (PEC)
Program Officer
Kurtzman, Howard S
Project Start
1995-04-01
Project End
2001-03-31
Budget Start
1999-04-01
Budget End
2001-03-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
1999
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
153223151
City
Amherst
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
01003
Frazier, Lyn; Clifton, Charles; Rayner, Keith et al. (2005) Interface problems: structural constraints on interpretation? J Psycholinguist Res 34:201-31
Rayner, Keith; Ashby, Jane; Pollatsek, Alexander et al. (2004) The effects of frequency and predictability on eye fixations in reading: implications for the E-Z Reader model. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 30:720-32
Deutsch, Avital; Frost, Ram; Pelleg, Sharon et al. (2003) Early morphological effects in reading: evidence from parafoveal preview benefit in Hebrew. Psychon Bull Rev 10:415-22
Kambe, Gretchen; Duffy, Susan A; Clifton Jr, Charles et al. (2003) An eye-movement-contingent probe paradigm. Psychon Bull Rev 10:661-6
Pollatsek, Alexander; Rayner, Keith (2002) Simple rotary motion is integrated across fixations. Percept Psychophys 64:1120-9
Lee, Hye-Won; Rayner, Keith; Pollatsek, Alexander (2002) The processing of consonants and vowels in reading: evidence from the fast priming paradigm. Psychon Bull Rev 9:766-72
Altarriba, J; Kambe, G; Pollatsek, A et al. (2001) Semantic codes are not used in integrating information across eye fixations in reading: evidence from fluent Spanish-English bilinguals. Percept Psychophys 63:875-90
Rayner, K; Binder, K S; Ashby, J et al. (2001) Eye movement control in reading: word predictability has little influence on initial landing positions in words. Vision Res 41:943-54
Rayner, K; Rotello, C M; Stewart, A J et al. (2001) Integrating text and pictorial information: eye movements when looking at print advertisements. J Exp Psychol Appl 7:219-26
Cycowicz, Y M; Friedman, D; Snodgrass, J G et al. (2001) Recognition and source memory for pictures in children and adults. Neuropsychologia 39:255-67

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