title: Encoding multiple words simultaneously in reading is implausible.
abstract: Several prominent models of reading posit that attention is distributed to support the parallel lexical processing of multiple words. We contend that the auxiliary assumptions underlying this attention-gradient hypothesis are not well founded. Here, we address three specific issues related to the ongoing debate about attention allocation during reading: (i) why the attention-gradient hypothesis is widely endorsed, (ii) why processing several words in parallel in reading is implausible and (iii) why attention must be allocated to only one word at a time. Full consideration of these arguments supports the hypothesis that attention is allocated serially during reading.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, 635 LRDC, 3939 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. reichle@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Erik D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Reichle
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Liversedge
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pollatsek
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rayner
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011578:Psycholinguistics / Q000379:methods; D011932:Reading; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary