How Is Information Integrated Across Fixations in Reading?

Abstract

This chapter explores the integration of information acquired over multiple eye fixations during reading by reviewing studies using the boundary paradigm. This integration process is examined for information extracted from the end of the fixated word, the word to the right of the fixated word, and the word two words to the right of the fixated word. The review shows that the amount of information integrated across fixations varies for these three different types of previewed visual information. A large variety of information extracted from a parafoveal word is integrated across fixations, including orthography, phonology, and meaning. The chapter considers how such integration processes operate across several languages to allow understanding of how the way in which linguistic characteristics are orthographically coded in a particular language constrains parafoveal processing. It is concluded that readers preferentially integrate the information that is most useful for the initiation of lexical access.