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Jordan TR, McGowan VA, Kurtev S, Paterson KB. Investigating the Effectiveness of Spatial Frequencies to the Left and Right of Central Vision during Reading: Evidence from Reading Times and Eye Movements. Front Psychol 2017; 8:807. [PMID: 28769827 PMCID: PMC5513974 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2016] [Accepted: 05/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Printed words are complex visual stimuli containing a range of different spatial frequencies, and several studies have suggested that various spatial frequencies are effective for skilled adult reading. But while it is well known that the area of text from which information is acquired during reading extends to the left and right of each fixation, the effectiveness of spatial frequencies falling each side of fixation has yet to be determined. To investigate this issue, we used a spatial frequency adaptation of the gaze-contingent moving-window paradigm in which sentences were shown to skilled adult readers either entirely as normal or filtered to contain only low, medium, or high spatial frequencies except for a window of normal text around each point of fixation. Windows replaced filtered text either symmetrically 1 character to the left and right of each fixated character, or asymmetrically, 1 character to the left and 7 or 13 to the right, or 1 character to the right and 7 or 13 to the left. Reading times and eye-movement measures showed that reading performance for sentences presented entirely as normal generally changed very little with filtered displays when windows extended to the right but was often disrupted when windows extended to the left. However, asymmetrical windows affected performance on both sides of fixation. Indeed, increasing the leftward extent of windows from 7 to 13 characters produced decreases in both reading times and fixation durations, suggesting that reading was influenced by the spatial frequency content of leftward areas of text some considerable distance from fixation. Overall, the findings show that while a range of different spatial frequencies can be used by skilled adult readers, the effectiveness of spatial frequencies differs for text on each side of central vision, and may reflect different roles played by these two areas of text during reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy R Jordan
- Department of Psychology, Zayed UniversityDubai, United Arab Emirates
| | - Victoria A McGowan
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Behaviour, University of LeicesterLeicester, United Kingdom
| | - Stoyan Kurtev
- Centre for Research in Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement, Coventry UniversityCoventry, United Kingdom
| | - Kevin B Paterson
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Behaviour, University of LeicesterLeicester, United Kingdom
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Li L, Li S, Wang J, McGowan VA, Liu P, Jordan TR, Paterson KB. Aging and the optimal viewing position effect in visual word recognition: Evidence from English. Psychol Aging 2017; 32:367-376. [PMID: 28406653 PMCID: PMC5459221 DOI: 10.1037/pag0000163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Words are recognized most efficiently by young adults when fixated at an optimal viewing position (OVP), which for English is between a word’s beginning and middle letters. How this OVP effect changes with age is unknown but may differ for older adults due to visual declines in later life. Accordingly, a lexical decision experiment was conducted in which short (5-letter) and long (9-letter) words were fixated at various letter positions. The older adults produced slower responses. But, crucially, effects of fixation location for each word-length did not differ substantially across age groups, indicating that OVP effects are preserved in older age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Li
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University
| | - Sha Li
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University
| | - Jingxin Wang
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University
| | - Victoria A McGowan
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester
| | - Pingping Liu
- Centre on Aging Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
| | - Timothy R Jordan
- Cognition and Neuroscience Research Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Zayed University Dubai
| | - Kevin B Paterson
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester
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Abstract
The finding that word length plays a fundamental role in determining where and for how long readers fixate within a line of text has been central to the development of sophisticated models of eye movement control. However, research in this area is dominated by the use of Latinate languages (e.g., English, French, German), and little is known about eye movement control for alphabetic languages with very different visual characteristics. To address this issue, the present experiment undertook a novel investigation of the influence of word length on eye movement behavior when reading Arabic. Arabic is an alphabetic language that not only is read from right to left but has visual characteristics fundamentally different from Latinate languages, and so is ideally suited to testing the generality of mechanisms of eye movement control. The findings reveal that readers were more likely to fixate and refixate longer words, and also that longer words tended to be fixated for longer. In addition, word length influenced the landing positions of initial fixations on words, with the effect that readers fixated the center of short words and fixated closer to the beginning letters for longer words, and the location of landing positions affected both the duration of the first fixation and probability of refixating the word. The indication now, therefore, is that effects of word length are a widespread and fundamental component of reading and play a central role in guiding eye-movement behavior across a range of very different alphabetic systems.
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Liu P, Liu D, Han B, Paterson KB. Aging and the optimal viewing position effect in Chinese. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1656. [PMID: 26579039 PMCID: PMC4624857 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2015] [Accepted: 10/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Substantial evidence indicates that where readers fixate within a word affects the efficiency with which that word is recognized. Indeed, words in alphabetic languages (e.g., English, French) are recognized most efficiently when fixated at their optimal viewing position (OVP), which is near the word center. However, little is known about the effects of fixation location on word recognition in non-alphabetic languages, such as Chinese. Moreover, studies to date have not investigated if effects of fixation location vary across adult age-groups, although it is well-established that older readers experience greater difficulty recognizing words due to visual and cognitive declines. Accordingly, the present research examined OVP effects by young and older adult readers when recognizing Chinese words presented in isolation. Most words in Chinese are formed from two or more logograms called characters and so the present experiment investigated the influence of fixation location on the recognition of 2-, 3-, and 4-character words (and nonwords). The older adults experienced generally greater word recognition difficulty. But whereas the young adults recognized words most efficiently when initially fixating the first character of 2-character words and second character of 3- and 4-character words, the older adults recognized words most efficiently when initially fixating the first character for words of each length. The findings therefore reveal subtle but potentially important adult age differences in the effects of fixation location on Chinese word recognition. Moreover, the similarity in effects for words and nonwords implies a more general age-related change in oculomotor strategy when processing Chinese character-strings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pingping Liu
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Centre on Aging Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China
| | - Danlu Liu
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Centre on Aging Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China
| | - Buxin Han
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Centre on Aging Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China
| | - Kevin B Paterson
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences, and Psychology, University of Leicester Leicester, UK
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Jordan TR, Sheen M, Abedipour L, Paterson KB. Visual speech perception in foveal and extrafoveal vision: further implications for divisions in hemispheric projections. PLoS One 2014; 9:e98273. [PMID: 25032950 PMCID: PMC4102446 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2014] [Accepted: 04/30/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
When observing a talking face, it has often been argued that visual speech to the left and right of fixation may produce differences in performance due to divided projections to the two cerebral hemispheres. However, while it seems likely that such a division in hemispheric projections exists for areas away from fixation, the nature and existence of a functional division in visual speech perception at the foveal midline remains to be determined. We investigated this issue by presenting visual speech in matched hemiface displays to the left and right of a central fixation point, either exactly abutting the foveal midline or else located away from the midline in extrafoveal vision. The location of displays relative to the foveal midline was controlled precisely using an automated, gaze-contingent eye-tracking procedure. Visual speech perception showed a clear right hemifield advantage when presented in extrafoveal locations but no hemifield advantage (left or right) when presented abutting the foveal midline. Thus, while visual speech observed in extrafoveal vision appears to benefit from unilateral projections to left-hemisphere processes, no evidence was obtained to indicate that a functional division exists when visual speech is observed around the point of fixation. Implications of these findings for understanding visual speech perception and the nature of functional divisions in hemispheric projection are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Lily Abedipour
- School of Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Kevin B. Paterson
- School of Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
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Does a paper's country of origin affect the length of the review process? Cortex 2012; 48:945-51. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2012] [Accepted: 05/25/2012] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Foley JA, Valkonen L. Are higher cited papers accepted faster for publication? Cortex 2012; 48:647-53. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.03.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2012] [Accepted: 03/23/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Jordan TR, Fuggetta G, Paterson KB, Kurtev S, Xu M. An ERP assessment of hemispheric projections in foveal and extrafoveal word recognition. PLoS One 2011; 6:e23957. [PMID: 21935368 PMCID: PMC3174137 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2011] [Accepted: 08/02/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The existence and function of unilateral hemispheric projections within foveal vision may substantially affect foveal word recognition. The purpose of this research was to reveal these projections and determine their functionality. Methodology Single words (and pseudowords) were presented to the left or right of fixation, entirely within either foveal or extrafoveal vision. To maximize the likelihood of unilateral projections for foveal displays, stimuli in foveal vision were presented away from the midline. The processing of stimuli in each location was assessed by combining behavioural measures (reaction times, accuracy) with on-line monitoring of hemispheric activity using event-related potentials recorded over each hemisphere, and carefully-controlled presentation procedures using an eye-tracker linked to a fixation-contingent display. Principal Findings Event-related potentials 100–150 ms and 150–200 ms after stimulus onset indicated that stimuli in extrafoveal and foveal locations were projected unilaterally to the hemisphere contralateral to the presentation hemifield with no concurrent projection to the ipsilateral hemisphere. These effects were similar for words and pseudowords, suggesting this early division occurred before word recognition. Indeed, event-related potentials revealed differences between words and pseudowords 300–350 ms after stimulus onset, for foveal and extrafoveal locations, indicating that word recognition had now occurred. However, these later event-related potentials also revealed that the hemispheric division observed previously was no longer present for foveal locations but remained for extrafoveal locations. These findings closely matched the behavioural finding that foveal locations produced similar performance each side of fixation but extrafoveal locations produced left-right asymmetries. Conclusions These findings indicate that an initial division in unilateral hemispheric projections occurs in foveal vision away from the midline but is not apparent, or functional, when foveal word recognition actually occurs. In contrast, the division in unilateral hemispheric projections that occurs in extrafoveal locations is still apparent, and is functional, when extrafoveal word recognition takes place.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy R Jordan
- Faculty of Medicine and Biological Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom.
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Luo B, Shan C, Zhu R, Weng X, He S. Functional foveal splitting: evidence from neuropsychological and multimodal MRI investigations in a Chinese patient with a splenium lesion. PLoS One 2011; 6:e23997. [PMID: 21887360 PMCID: PMC3162595 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2011] [Accepted: 08/02/2011] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
It remains controversial and hotly debated whether foveal information is double-projected to both hemispheres or split at the midline between the two hemispheres. We investigated this issue in a unique patient with lesions in the splenium of the corpus callosum and the left medial occipitotemporal region, through a series of neuropsychological tests and multimodal MRI scans. Behavioral experiments showed that (1) the patient had difficulties in reading simple and compound Chinese characters when they were presented in the foveal but left to the fixation, (2) he failed to recognize the left component of compound characters when the compound characters were presented in the central foveal field, (3) his judgments of the gender of centrally presented chimeric faces were exclusively based on the left half-face and he was unaware that the faces were chimeric. Functional MRI data showed that Chinese characters, only when presented in the right foveal field but not in the left foveal field, activated a region in the left occipitotemporal sulcus in the mid-fusiform, which is recognized as visual word form area. Together with existing evidence in the literature, results of the current study suggest that the representation of foveal stimuli is functionally split at object processing levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benyan Luo
- Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Chunlei Shan
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- * E-mail:
| | - Renjing Zhu
- Department of Neurology, Zhongshan Hospital, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Xuchu Weng
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- The Center for Human Brain Research, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Sheng He
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
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Foley JA, Della Sala S. Do shorter Cortex papers have greater impact? Cortex 2011; 47:635-42. [PMID: 21463860 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2011] [Accepted: 03/18/2011] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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Evaluating hemispheric divisions in processing fixated words: the evidence from Arabic. Cortex 2011; 47:992-7. [PMID: 21457952 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2010] [Revised: 01/17/2011] [Accepted: 02/01/2011] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Some studies have claimed that, when fixating a word, a precise split in foveal processing produces substantial effects on word recognition because all letters to the left and right of fixation project to different, contralateral hemispheres. Recently in this Journal, Jordan, Paterson, Kurtev, and Xu (2010, Cortex, 46, 298-309) evaluated this claim using precisely-controlled procedures of fixation and stimulus presentation and found no evidence of split-foveal processing. However, in line with other research in this area, these findings were obtained using a Latinate alphabetic language (in this case English) which may induce specific effects on performance. Consequently, here we report a further study which used stimuli from a fundamentally different, non-Latinate alphabetic language (Arabic) with characteristics better suited to revealing effects of split-foveal processing, if they exist. Participants made lexical decisions to five-letter Arabic words (and nonwords) when fixations were made immediately to the right (location 1) or left (location 6) of each stimulus, or at one of the four possible inter-letter locations (locations 2-5). Fixation location was carefully controlled using an eye-tracker linked to a fixation-contingent display and all stimuli were presented within foveal vision to avoid confounding influences of extrafoveal projections. Performance was equally poorest when fixating locations 1 and 6 (i.e., when words were shown entirely to either the left or right of fixation), equally intermediate for locations 2 and 5, and equally superior for locations 3 and 4 (i.e., the centre of words). Moreover, additional, word-specific analyses showed no evidence of the effects of fixation location on individual word recognition also predicted by split-foveal processing. These findings from a non-Latinate language complement those reported previously for English to provide further evidence that while fixation location influences word recognition, these influences occur with no functional division in hemispheric processing at the point of fixation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy R Jordan
- School of Psychology, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, Henry Wellcome Building, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 9HN, UK.
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Jordan TR, Paterson KB, Kurtev S, Xu M. Do fixation cues ensure fixation accuracy in split-fovea studies of word recognition? Neuropsychologia 2008; 47:2004-7. [PMID: 19133280 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.12.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2008] [Revised: 11/07/2008] [Accepted: 12/02/2008] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Many studies have claimed that hemispheric processing is split precisely at the foveal midline and so place great emphasis on the precise location at which words are fixated. These claims are based on experiments in which a variety of fixation procedures were used to ensure fixation accuracy but the effectiveness of these procedures is unclear. We investigated this issue using procedures matched to the original studies and an eye-tracker to monitor the locations actually fixated. Four common types of fixation cues were used: cross, two vertical gapped lines, two vertical gapped lines plus a secondary task in which a digit was presented at the designated fixation point, and a dot. Accurate fixations occurred on <35% of trials for all fixation conditions. Moreover, despite the usefulness often attributed to a secondary task, no increase in fixation accuracy was produced in this condition. The indications are that split-fovea theory should not assume that fixation of specified locations occurs in experiments without appropriate eye-tracking control or, indeed, that consistent fixation of specified locations is plausible under normal conditions of word recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy R Jordan
- Faculty of Medicine and Biological Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
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