An Eye Movement Study On The Effects Of Reading Task On Text Reading

Reading is an effective way for individuals to increase their knowledge and experience.In daily life,readers always read text for various purposes.The reading goal the reader has in mind during reading is an important factor in governing how he or she processes and comprehends text(Shebilske&Fisher,1983).Considerable research has been undertaken to exam the mechanisms underlying eye movement behaviour during reading.Some valuable theoretical models of eye movement control have also been obtained(E-Z reader model and SWIFT model).However the vast majority of the work undertaken so far has focus on eye movement behaviour during reading for comprehension.Very few studies have examined the effect of reading task on the reading process,as revealed by the pattern of eye movements.A substantial proportion of everyday reading behaviour is likely characterized by rapid reading such as skimming.Unfortunately,there are few studies on skimming.Although several studies have demonstrated that text comprehension is poor during skimming compared with reading for comprehension(Just&Carpenter,1987;Rayner,Schotter,Masson,Potter,&Treiman,2016).Such research indicates that linguistic processing is more superficial during skimming,however much more detailed research is required to reveal the precise level and time course of reading processes during skimming.The present study use eye tracking method to investigate how reading task affect reading behaviour.By analyzing and comparing the common and difference of the effects of word space,word complexity,word frequency,word predictability and semantic plausibility on text during reading and skimming.Together these objectives provide insights into how reading task modulate processing of text from low level variables(word space and visual complexity),lexical variables(word frequency),effects of context(predictability)and effects of post-lexical integration(plausibility).The first study explored how reading task affect eye movement behaviors during text reading.The results showed that compared with reading for comprehension,readers made longer fixation time,fewer fixations,larger saccade length and higher skipping rate during skimming.The second study explored how reading task affect low-level visual information processing in text reading.The results showed that the effects of word complexity are both significant during reading and skimming(words with fewer strokes produce shorter fixation time and higher skipping rate),however the interactions between reading task and word complexity is not significant.The effects of word space are both significant during reading and skimming(readers in spaced text made shorter fixation time and higher skipping rate)and the interactions between reading task and word space is significant,with larger effects of word space during reading than skimming.The third study explored how reading task affect lexical and context processing in text reading.The results showed that effects of word frequency are both significant during reading and skimming(frequent words produce shorter fixation time and higher skipping rate)and first-pass reading times had already shown the significant interactions between reading task and word frequency,with larger effects of word frequency during reading than skimming.First-pass reading times showed no interactions between word predictability and reading task.In contrast there were interactions for later measures,there is a significant word predictability effect during reading(words with high predictability produce shorter fixation time and higher skipping rate),however effect of word predictability during skimming is not significant.The fourth study explored how reading task affect post-lexical integration processing in text reading.The results showed that effects of semantic plausibility are both significant during reading and skimming(plausible words produce shorter fixation time and higher skipping rate)and the interactions between reading task and semantic plausibility is significant,with larger effects of semantic plausibility during reading than skimming.Based on the above results,the main conclusions of the study are as follows:(1)Reading task can affect the basic eye movement behaviors during text reading.Participants'eye movement behaviors are shown significant differences during reading and skimming.(2)Reading task can modulate low-level visual information processes during text reading.Although the word complexity information process are similar during reading and skimming.However compared with skimming,readers are more depend on word boundary information to identify words during reading for comprehension.(3)Reading task can modulate lexical-level information processes during text reading.Compared with skimming,the lexical level information process are deeper in reading.In the early stage of word processing,Chinese readers have begun to process and integrate lexical level information in different degrees,do vary as a function of reading task.(4)Reading task can modulate the processing of the word and sentence context during reading.In the early stage of word processing,the word and context information process are similar during reading and skimming.In the later processing,compared with skimming,the word and context information process are deeper in reading for comprehension.(5)Reading task can modulate the processing of post-lexical integration during text reading.Compared with skimming,the post-lexical integration process are deeper in reading for comprehension.Together these results indicate that readers process and integrate text information in different degrees and they adopt flexible cognitive processing strategies to accommodate task demands.