Name: eye-tracking to distinguish comprehension-based and oculomotor-based regressive eye movements during reading
Uploaded: 2018-10-18T14:45:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading at JoVE.com

The authors have no acknowledgments.

The Institutional Review Boards of Kent State University and Stetson University have approved all methods described here.
1. Eligible Participants
NOTE: The purpose of this research is to understand reading processes in skilled adult readers. Thus, certain eligibility requirements must be met. Such controls ensure that results are directly applicable to a population of skilled adult readers with typical cognitive processes.
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	<li>Recruit parti...

     

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	<li>Rayner, K. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Eye+movements+in+reading+and+information+processing:+20+years+of+research.">Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research.</a> Psychological Bulletin. 124 (3), 372-422 (1998).</li><li>Posner, M. I., Cohen, Y. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Components+of+visual+orienting.">Components of visual orienting.</a> Attention and Performance X: Control Language Processes. (32), 531-556 (1984).</li><li>Klein, R. K. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Inhibition+of+return.">Inhibition of return.</a> Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 4 (4), 138-147 (2000).</li><li>Henderson, J. M., Luke, S. 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J., Ashby, J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Eye+movements+as+reflections+of+comprehension+processing+in+reading.">Eye movements as reflections of comprehension processing in reading.</a> Scientific Studies of Reading. 10 (3), 241-255 (2009).</li><li>Schotter, E. R., Tran, R., Rayner, K. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Don&#8217;t+believe+what+you+read+(only+once)+comprehension+is+supported+by+regressions+during+reading.">Don&#8217;t believe what you read (only once) comprehension is supported by regressions during reading.</a> Psychological Science. 26 (6), 1218-1226 (2014).</li><li>Eskenazi, M. A., Folk, J. 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Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium. , (1995).</li><li>Rayner, K. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Eye+movements+and+the+perceptual+span+in+beginning+and+skilled+readers.">Eye movements and the perceptual span in beginning and skilled readers.</a> Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 42 (2), 211-236 (1986).</li><li>Ashby, J., Rayner, K., Clifton, C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Eye+movements+of+highly+skilled+and+average+readers:+Differential+effects+of+frequency+and+predictability.">Eye movements of highly skilled and average readers: Differential effects of frequency and predictability.</a> Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A. 58 (6), 1065-1086 (2005).</li></ol>

The current research provides a method for distinguishing between two different types of regressive eye movements during reading - those that are based on comprehension difficulty and those that are based on oculomotor error. The data provide evidence that a low-level attentional process, IOR, may depend on the type of regression. It was found that IOR only occurs for oculomotor-based regressions, but not for comprehension based regressions14. Thus, it is important...

The method described in this paper was designed to investigate the role of inhibition of return (IOR) in regressive eye movements during reading, focusing on regressions triggered as a result of comprehension difficulty versus those triggered as a result of oculomotor error. Specifically, we investigated whether regressions launched as a result of comprehension difficulty and those launched as a result of oculomotor error are subject to IOR effects.
Regressive eye movements, or regressions, are eye movements that move backwards through the text. Depending on reader and text characteristics, 10-25% of eye movements move backwards1. This has led researchers to investigate whether IOR effects affect regressive eye movements during natural reading. IOR is an oculomotor effect that results in increased latency to return attention to a target that had been previously attended compared to a target that had not been previously attended2. While much of the work done to establish IOR effects has involved non-reading visual attention tasks3, the effect has been extended to reading4,5.
The work examining regressions and IOR in reading has focused on whether an oculomotor effect such as IOR can influence eye movement control in reading. One study5 found evidence of IOR in a reading task. They found that readers spent approximately 30 ms longer on the fixation preceding a regression. This was interpreted as the IOR &#34;cost&#34; - the delay before returning to a previously fixated position. This was supported in regular reading and mindless reading conditions6.
Despite evidence that IOR can be found in regular reading situations, it is clear that regressive eye movements do not all have the same underlying cause. Regressions resulting from comprehension difficulty have been well documented7,8,9,10.&#160;Despite the evidence that eye movements during reading are generally guided by cognitive and linguistic factors1, it is also assumed that sometimes regressions occur in response to low-level oculomotor factors, such as target overshoot1. It is assumed that on some trials, readers mis-program a saccade and land beyond their intended target word (an overshoot). In this case, a short, corrective regressive saccade may occur so that the unintentionally skipped word can be fixated. Given that two underlying mechanisms - linguistic and oculomotor - have been posited for regressive eye movements, it is not clear whether IOR occurs for both. The current method allows for the measurement of IOR effects when regressive eye movements have been launched as a result of comprehension difficulties and as a result of oculomotor overshoot. Thus, the method allows researchers to distinguish the underlying mechanisms of regressive eye movements, allowing for the evaluation of IOR effects.
The current method takes advantage of the two identified mechanisms triggering regressive eye movements. By designing the materials so that re-reading is likely to be triggered by comprehension difficulty or overshoot, researchers are able to examine the circumstances under which IOR might occur in reading. To encourage re-reading as a result of oculomotor error, we embedded short target words that show high skipping rates of about 50% (adapted from previous research11). Skipped words are often followed by a corrective regressive saccade when the skipping is a result of oculomotor error11. The other set of materials was comprised of sentences that contained semantically ambiguous homographic homophones (e.g., grade: school/incline). The sentences were adapted from an ambiguity study12 and contained information as to the intended meaning of the homophone that followed the word. Thus, this would increase the chances that readers would re-read for comprehension. The context was consistent with the less-likely meaning of the homophone, making it likely that readers would have to re-read after having initially selected the more frequent, dominant meaning on their first encounter with the target word. The combination of eye-movement monitoring and materials designed to increase regressions makes this method unique in allowing for the examination of regressive eye movements with differing underlying causes.
Understanding the mechanisms underlying regressive saccades and the role that oculomotor factors such as IOR play in them is important to models of eye movement control as well as for understanding the relationship between oculomotor and cognitive control of eye movements. For example, a recent version of the E-Z Reader model of eye movement control employs a 30 ms cost for all regressive eye movements13. However, our methodology demonstrated that such a cost only applies to regressions resulting from oculomotor error.
Eye movement measures allow researchers to track the moment-to-moment cognitive processing during reading1. Recently, models of eye movement control have begun to try to explain the mechanisms underlying regressive eye movements. Since regressions are often launched in relation to comprehension difficulties, any researcher interested in understanding the comprehension processes during reading should attempt to differentiate regressions resulting from oculomotor error versus comprehension processes. This methodology indicates that a cost for regressions is a result only of oculomotor error, serving as a launching point for differentiating between types of regressions. The combination of eye movement measures (regressions, fixation times before regressions) and carefully controlled materials allow for this differentiation.

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			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Eyelink 1000 Plus</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">SR Research</td>
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			<td style="width:167px;">Video-based eye tracker</td>
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			<td>Software to build eye tracking experiments</td>
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			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Data Viewer</td>
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			<td>Software to retireve eye tracking measures</td>
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eye-tracking to distinguish comprehension-based and oculomotor-based regressive eye movements during reading

Regressive eye movements are eye movements that move backwards through the text and comprise approximately 10-25% of eye movements during reading. As such, understanding the causes and mechanisms of regressions plays an important role in understanding eye movement behavior. Inhibition of return (IOR) is an oculomotor effect that results in increased latency to return attention to a previously attended target versus a target that was not previously attended. Thus, IOR may affect regressions. This paper describes how to design materials to distinguish between regressions caused by comprehension-related and oculomotor processes; the latter is subject to IOR. The method allows researchers to identify IOR and control the causes of regressions. While the method requires tightly controlled materials and large numbers of participants and materials, it allows researchers to distinguish and control the types of regressions that occur in their reading studies.

The results of our previous work using this paradigm14 resulted in a 17% regression rate in the oculomotor error condition and a 29% regression rate in the comprehension difficulty condition14. In the oculomotor error condition, 32% of the regressions were to previously fixated words and 68% of regressions were to previously skipped words. The reverse pattern occurred in the comprehension difficulty condition. Of the 29% of regressions, 61% were to previously fixated words ...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading at JoVE.com

Eye-tracking to Distinguish Comprehension-based and Oculomotor-based Regressive Eye Movements During Reading

The method was designed to investigate the role of inhibition of return (IOR) in regressive eye movements during reading. The focus is on differentiating between regressions triggered as a result of comprehension difficulty versus those triggered from oculomotor error, including the role of IOR in the two types of regressions.

Regressive eye movements are eye movements that move backwards through the text and comprise approximately 10-25% of eye movements during reading. As ...

This method can help answer key questions related to eye movement control during reading such as the role of inhibition of return in regressive saccades. The main advantage of this technique is that it allows the researcher to distinguish between different types of regressive eye movements. Demonstrating the procedure will be Cassidy Campbell, Mackenzie Nalven, and Brittany Thomas who are undergraduate research assistants in my lab.Cassidy will control the eye tracker as the researcher, Mackenzie will be the participant, and Brittany will complete the closed task. Begin by preparing the experimental stimuli for oculomotor corrective regressions. To do this, select words from an English language corpus such as SUBTLWF which provides a list of words and their frequencies in counts per million.First select a set of at least 30 target words which are the stimuli for which word skipping and regressive eye movements will be measured. To facilitate skipping, select three-letter content words with frequencies lower than 30 counts per million. Also select pre-target words that the reader is likely to fixate before skipping or fixating the target word.These should be high frequency with at least 30 counts per million and have five to seven letters. Next, select the post-target words that the reader is likely to fixate on after skipping or fixating the target word. Select high-frequency prepositions with at least four letters.Now using the words selected in the previous steps, create sentence contexts in which these three words will be embedded. Place all words stimuli in the middle of the sentence. An example sentence is seen here.In this sentence green is the pre-target word, gem is the three-letter low frequency unpredictable target word, and around is the post-target word. After sentence frames are created, use a separate set of participants to norm the stimuli using a closed task to ensure that the target word is not predictable from the sentence context. Have these participants view each sentence context up until the target word without including the target and produce a word that they think best fits the sentence.This can be done using pen and paper or software for behavioral research. Next, prepare stimuli for comprehension based regressions. For this experiment, obtain sentence context by referencing appendix A in the article seen here which provides neutral sentence frames that end with an ambiguous homophone.Then determine the subordinate meaning of the target word using the University of South Florida homograph norms and write the second half of the sentence that disambiguates the homophone to its subordinate meaning. For example, the subordinate meaning of the homophone grade is hill incline while the dominant meeting is evaluation scale. Thus for the sentence seen here, add of the hill they were driving down to complete the sentence.Use an eye tracker with a sampling rate of 1, 000 Hertz meaning eye positions will be measured 1, 000 times per second. Eye movements will be measured from the right eye for this experiment. Use a 21 inch or smaller size monitor and have participants sit about 60 centimeters away from the screen.Provide a chin rest to stabilize head movements and allow them to adjust the height of both the chin rest and chair until they are comfortable. Also provide a keyboard and instruct them to rest their fingers on yes and no buttons that will be used to answer comprehension questions during the experiment. Now instruct the participant to gaze at a white circle in the center of a black screen to calibrate their eye positions.They should keep their eyes on the circle and follow it as it moves around to a total of nine positions on the screen. Next, validate eye positions by having the participant gaze at a white circle on the left side of the screen in the location of the first letter of the first word. Then press a button that controls the onset of reading.Each sentence should appear in random order in the center of the screen. Use a monospaced font so that all characters take up the same amount of space on the participants retina. Intermix filler sentences and comprehension sentences followed by questions with the experimental sentences.Be sure to perform a drift correct prior to each sentence and recalibrate the participants eye positions if they are off by more than one degree of visual angle. This figure shows reading times on target words from which the regression was launched. The regression was either made to a word that was previously fixated or previously skipped.Regression to the previously fixated words are expected to be longer if there is an inhibition of return effect demonstrating the latency to move the eyes back to a previously fixated target. Once mastered, this technique can be done in about 30 minutes per participant if it is performed properly. While attempting this procedure, it's important to remember that skipping rates tend to be low so a large number of stimuli and participants are needed to have sufficient power to detect differences.After watching this video you should have a good understanding of how to create stimuli that will result in a regressive eye movements to correct for oculomotor error and stimuli that will result in regressive eye movements caused by comprehension difficulty.

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