Mislocated fixations can account for parafoveal-on-foveal effects in eye movements during reading

Abstract

Contrasting predictions of serial and parallel views on the processing of foveal and parafoveal information during reading were tested. A high-frequency adjective ( young) was followed by either a high-frequency wordn ( child) or a low-frequency wordn ( tenor), which in turn was followed by either a correct ( performing) or an orthographic illegal wordn + 1 ( pxvforming) as a parafoveal preview. A limited parafoveal-on-foveal effect was observed: There were inflated fixation times on wordn when the preview of wordn + 1 was orthographically illegal. However, this parafoveal-on-foveal effect was (a) independent of the frequency of wordn, (b) restricted to those instances when the eyes were very close to wordn + 1, and (c) associated with relatively long prior saccades. These observations are all compatible with a mislocated fixation account in which parafoveal-on-foveal effects result from saccadic undershoots of wordn + 1 and with a serial model of eye movement control during reading.