Visual and Linguistic Determinants of the Eyes' Initial Fixation Position in Reading Development
Résumé
Two eye-movement experiments with ninety first- through fifth-grade children were conducted to examine the effects of visuomotor and linguistic factors on the recognition of words presented in central vision (using a variable-viewing-position technique) and in parafoveal vision (shifted to the left or right of a central fixation point). For all groups of children, stimulus location had a strong effect on the parameters of basic oculomotor development and lexical-decision time, in both central and parafoveal vision. This effect corresponds to the children's apparent tendency, for peripherally located targets, to reach a position located halfway between the middle and the left edge of the stimulus (preferred landing position), whether saccading to the right or left. For centrally presented targets, refixation probability and lexical-decision time were the lowest near the word's center, suggesting an optimal viewing position (OVP). Note that the first-fixation durations were the longest at this OVP (revealing an inverted-OVP; see Vitu et al., 2001, Vision Research, 41, 3511-3531). Word-frequency and lexicality effects were obtained for all groups on gaze duration and lexical-decision time, both in central and parafoveal vision. Possible relationships between these two tasks are discussed with respect to current theories of oculomotor control.