Dissociating parafoveal preview benefit and parafovea-on-fovea effects during reading: A combined eye tracking and EEG study.
During reading, the parafoveal processing of an upcoming word n+1 can influence word recognition in two ways: It can affect fixation behavior during the preceding fixation on word n (parafovea-on-fovea effect, POF), and it can facilitate subsequent foveal processing once word n+1 is fixated (preview benefit). While preview benefits are established, evidence for POF effects is mixed. Recently, it has been suggested that POF effects exist, but have a delayed impact on saccade planning and thus coincide with preview benefits measured on word n+1. We combined eye movement and EEG recordings to investigate and separate neural correlates of POF and preview benefit effects. Participants read lists of nouns either in a boundary paradigm or the RSVP-with-flankers paradigm, while we recorded fixation- or event-related potentials (FRPs/ERPs), respectively. The validity and lexical frequency of the word shown as preview for the upcoming word n+1 were orthogonally manipulated. Analyses focused on the first fixation on word n+1. Preview validity (correct vs. incorrect preview) strongly modulated fixation times and electrophysiological N1 amplitudes, replicating previous findings. Importantly, gaze durations and FRPs measured on word n+1 were also affected by the frequency of the word shown as preview, with low-frequency previews eliciting a sustained, N400-like centroparietal negativity. Results support the idea that POF effects exist but affect word recognition with a delay. Lastly, once word n+1 was fixated, its frequency also modulated N1 amplitudes in ERPs and FRPs. Taken together, we separated immediate and delayed effects of parafoveal processing on brain correlates of word recognition.
Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.|Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Florian
F
Niefind
Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Olaf
O
Dimigen
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011932:Reading; D012438:Saccades; D055815:Young Adult
Boundary technique; Delayed parafovea-on-fovea effect; EEG; Eye tracking; Eye-fixation related potentials; Preview benefit