Eye fixation patterns were used to identify reading strategies of adults as they read multiple-topic expository texts. A clustering technique distinguished 4 strategies that differed with respect to the ways in which readers reprocessed text. The processing of fast linear readers was characterized by the absence of fixations returning to previous text. Slow linear readers made lots of forward fixations and reinspected each sentence before moving to the next. The reading of nonselective reviewers was characterized by look backs to previous sentences. The distinctive feature of topic structure processors was that they paid close attention to headings. They also had the largest working-memory capacity and wrote the most accurate text summaries. Thus, qualitatively distinct reading strategies are observable among competent, adult readers.

The effect of a reading perspective on online text processing was studied by recording readers' eye movements during reading. Participants read an expository text about 4 countries with the goal of deciding whether one of the countries, designated by the experimenter as the reading perspective, would be a good new place of residence. The results showed better memory for perspective-relevant information and longer fixation times on perspective-relevant information. Individual differences in working memory were assessed with the reading span test. Results showed that the time course of the perspective effect varied with memory span: High-span readers showed a perspective relevance effect on initial reading of the target segments, whereas low-span readers showed the effect only in the later look backs.Usually, when reading expository text, one is reading not just for the fun of it but for a specific purpose; for example, to find information regarding a question in which one is interested. In other words, one adopts a specific reading perspective from which one reads the text at hand. The purpose of this study was to examine how the perspective adopted by the reader influences the processing of expository text.In this study, participants read an expository text that described four remote countries: Andorra, Anguilla, Pitcairn, and Honduras. Before reading, the participants were instructed to adopt a reading perspective. One half of the participants DISCOURSE PROCESSES, 33(2),[159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168][169][170][171][172][173]

This study examined how prior knowledge and working memory capacity (WMC) influence the effect of a reading perspective on online text processing. In Experiment 1, 47 participants read and recalled 2 texts of different familiarity from a given perspective while their eye movements were recorded. The participants' WMC was assessed with the reading span test. The results suggest that if the reader has prior knowledge related to text contents and a high WMC, relevant text information can be encoded into memory without extra processing time. In Experiment 2, baseline processing times showed whether readers slow down their processing of relevant information or read faster through their relevant information. The results are discussed in the light of different working memory theories.

The present study examined individual differences in the processing of different forms of figurative language. Sixty participants read sarcastic, metaphorical, and literal sentences embedded in story contexts while their eye movements were recorded, and responded to a text memory and an inference question after each story. Individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC), need for cognition (NFC), and cognitive-affective processing were measured. The results showed that the processing of metaphors was characterized by slow-down during first-pass reading of the utterances, whereas sarcasm produced mainly delayed effects in the eye movement records. Sarcastic utterances were also harder to comprehend than literal or metaphorical utterances as indicated by poorer performance in responses to inference questions. Individual differences in general cognitive factors (WMC and NFC) were related to the processing of metaphors, whereas individual differences in both general cognitive factors (WMC) as well as processing of emotional information were related to the processing of sarcasm. The results indicate that different forms of figurative language pose different cognitive demands to the reader, and show that reader characteristics play a prominent role in figurative language comprehension.

The present study examined how proofreading and reading-for-comprehension instructions influence eye movements during reading. Thirty-seven participants silently read sentences containing compound words as target words while their eye movements were being recorded. We manipulated word length and frequency to examine how task instructions influence orthographic versus lexical-semantic processing during reading. Task instructions influenced both temporal and spatial aspects of eye movements: The initial landing position in words was shifted leftward, the saccade length was shorter, first fixation and gaze duration were longer, and refixation probability was higher during proofreading than during reading for comprehension. Moreover, in comparison to instructions for reading for comprehension, proofreading instructions increased both orthographic and lexical-semantic processing. This became apparent in a greater word length and word frequency effect in gaze duration during proofreading than during reading for comprehension. The present study suggests that the allocation of attentional resources during reading is significantly modulated by task demands.

The present eye-movement study assessed the effect of expertise on eye-movement behaviour during image perception in the medical domain. To this end, radiologists, computed-tomography radiographers and psychology students were exposed to nine volumes of multi-slice, stack-view, axial computed-tomography images from the upper to the lower part of the abdomen with or without abnormality. The images were presented in succession at low, medium or high speed, while the participants had to detect enlarged lymph nodes or other visually more salient abnormalities. The radiologists outperformed both other groups in the detection of enlarged lymph nodes and their eye-movement behaviour also differed from the other groups. Their general strategy was to use saccades of shorter amplitude than the two other participant groups. In the presence of enlarged lymph nodes, they increased the number of fixations on the relevant areas and reverted to even shorter saccades. In volumes containing enlarged lymph nodes, radiologists’ fixation durations were longer in comparison to their fixation durations in volumes without enlarged lymph nodes. More salient abnormalities were detected equally well by radiologists and radiographers, with both groups outperforming psychology students. However, to accomplish this, radiologists actually needed fewer fixations on the relevant areas than the radiographers. On the basis of these results, we argue that expert behaviour is manifested in distinct eye-movement patterns of proactivity, reactivity and suppression, depending on the nature of the task and the presence of abnormalities at any given moment.

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