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Pan Y, Frisson S, Federmeier KD, Jensen O. Early parafoveal semantic integration in natural reading. eLife 2024; 12:RP91327. [PMID: 38968325 PMCID: PMC11226228 DOI: 10.7554/elife.91327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans can read and comprehend text rapidly, implying that readers might process multiple words per fixation. However, the extent to which parafoveal words are previewed and integrated into the evolving sentence context remains disputed. We investigated parafoveal processing during natural reading by recording brain activity and eye movements using MEG and an eye tracker while participants silently read one-line sentences. The sentences contained an unpredictable target word that was either congruent or incongruent with the sentence context. To measure parafoveal processing, we flickered the target words at 60 Hz and measured the resulting brain responses (i.e. Rapid Invisible Frequency Tagging, RIFT) during fixations on the pre-target words. Our results revealed a significantly weaker tagging response for target words that were incongruent with the previous context compared to congruent ones, even within 100ms of fixating the word immediately preceding the target. This reduction in the RIFT response was also found to be predictive of individual reading speed. We conclude that semantic information is not only extracted from the parafovea but can also be integrated with the previous context before the word is fixated. This early and extensive parafoveal processing supports the rapid word processing required for natural reading. Our study suggests that theoretical frameworks of natural reading should incorporate the concept of deep parafoveal processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yali Pan
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Steven Frisson
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Kara D Federmeier
- Department of Psychology, Program in Neuroscience, and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of IllinoisChampaignUnited States
| | - Ole Jensen
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
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Huang X, Wong BWL, Ng HTY, Sommer W, Dimigen O, Maurer U. Neural mechanism underlying preview effects and masked priming effects in visual word processing. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024:10.3758/s13414-024-02904-8. [PMID: 38956004 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02904-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
Two classic experimental paradigms - masked repetition priming and the boundary paradigm - have played a pivotal role in understanding the process of visual word recognition. Traditionally, these paradigms have been employed by different communities of researchers, with their own long-standing research traditions. Nevertheless, a review of the literature suggests that the brain-electric correlates of word processing established with both paradigms may show interesting similarities, in particular with regard to the location, timing, and direction of N1 and N250 effects. However, as of yet, no direct comparison has been undertaken between the two paradigms. In the current study, we used combined eye-tracking/EEG to perform such a within-subject comparison using the same materials (single Chinese characters) as stimuli. To facilitate direct comparisons, we used a simplified version of the boundary paradigm - the single word boundary paradigm. Our results show the typical early repetition effects of N1 and N250 for both paradigms. However, repetition effects in N250 (i.e., a reduced negativity following identical-word primes/previews as compared to different-word primes/previews) were larger with the single word boundary paradigm than with masked priming. For N1 effects, repetition effects were similar across the two paradigms, showing a larger N1 after repetitions as compared to alternations. Therefore, the results indicate that at the neural level, a briefly presented and masked foveal prime produces qualitatively similar facilitatory effects on visual word recognition as a parafoveal preview before a single saccade, although such effects appear to be stronger in the latter case.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Huang
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sino Building 3/F, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, SAR, China
| | - Brian W L Wong
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sino Building 3/F, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, SAR, China
- BCBL, Basque Center on Brain, Language and Cognition, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Hezul Tin-Yan Ng
- Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Werner Sommer
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jin Hua, China
- Department of Physics and Life Science Imaging Centre, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Olaf Dimigen
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 2-1, 9712 TS, Groningen, The Netherlands.
- The Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Urs Maurer
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sino Building 3/F, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
- Centre for Developmental Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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Li N, Wang S, Kornrumpf F, Sommer W, Dimigen O. Parafoveal and foveal N400 effects in natural reading: A timeline of semantic processing from fixation-related potentials. Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14524. [PMID: 38297818 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2022] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
The depth at which parafoveal words are processed during reading is an ongoing topic of debate. Recent studies using RSVP-with-flanker paradigms have shown that implausible words within sentences elicit an N400 component while they are still in parafoveal vision, suggesting that the semantics of parafoveal words can be accessed to rapidly update the sentence representation. To study this effect in natural reading, we combined the coregistration of eye movements and EEG with the deconvolution modeling of fixation-related potentials (FRPs) to test whether semantic plausibility is processed parafoveally during Chinese sentence reading. For one target word per sentence, both its parafoveal and foveal plausibility were orthogonally manipulated using the boundary paradigm. Consistent with previous eye movement studies, we observed a delayed effect of parafoveal plausibility on fixation durations that only emerged on the foveal word. Crucially, in FRPs aligned to the pretarget fixation, a clear N400 effect emerged already based on parafoveal plausibility, with more negative voltages for implausible previews. Once participants fixated the target, we again observed an N400 effect of foveal plausibility. Interestingly, this foveal N400 was absent whenever the preview had been implausible, indicating that when a word's (im)plausibility is already processed in parafoveal vision, this information is not revised anymore upon direct fixation. Implausible words also elicited a late positive component (LPC), but exclusively when in foveal vision. Our results not only provide convergent neural and behavioral evidence for the parafoveal uptake of semantic information, but also indicate different contributions of parafoveal versus foveal information toward higher level sentence processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nan Li
- School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Language Cognition and Assessment, Guangzhou, China
| | - Suiping Wang
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
| | - Florian Kornrumpf
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Werner Sommer
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jin Hua, China
- Department of Physics and Life Sciences Imaging Center, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Olaf Dimigen
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Max-Planck-Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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Yu H, Kwon M. Altered Eye Movements During Reading With Simulated Central and Peripheral Visual Field Defects. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2023; 64:21. [PMID: 37843494 PMCID: PMC10584020 DOI: 10.1167/iovs.64.13.21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose Although foveal vision provides fine spatial information, parafoveal and peripheral vision are also known to be important for efficient reading behaviors. Here we systematically investigate how different types and sizes of visual field defects affect the way visual information is acquired via eye movements during reading. Methods Using gaze-contingent displays, simulated scotomas were induced in 24 adults with normal or corrected-to-normal vision during a reading task. The study design included peripheral and central scotomas of varying sizes (aperture or scotoma size of 2°, 4°, 6°, 8°, and 10°) and no-scotoma conditions. Eye movements (e.g., forward/backward saccades, fixations, microsaccades) were plotted as a function of either the aperture or scotoma size, and their relationships were characterized by the best fitting model. Results When the aperture size of the peripheral scotoma decreased below 6° (11 visible letters), there were significant decreases in saccade amplitude and velocity, as well as substantial increases in fixation duration and the number of fixations. Its dependency on the aperture size is best characterized by an exponential decay or growth function in log-linear coordinates. However, saccade amplitude and velocity, fixation duration, and forward/regressive saccades increased more or less linearly with increasing central scotoma size in log-linear coordinates. Conclusions Our results showed differential impacts of central and peripheral vision loss on reading behaviors while lending further support for the importance of foveal and parafoveal vision in reading. These apparently deviated oculomotor behaviors may in part reflect optimal reading strategies to compensate for the loss of visual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haojue Yu
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
| | - MiYoung Kwon
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Zhang L, Liu Z, Zhao S, Wang J. Semantic plausibility preferentially affects the semantic preview benefit in Chinese reading: evidence from an eye-movement study. PeerJ 2023; 11:e15291. [PMID: 37159829 PMCID: PMC10163867 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Numerous studies have confirmed that skilled readers can benefit from a semantically related preview word (i.e., semantic preview benefit, SPB), suggesting that readers can extract semantic information from the parafovea to achieve efficient reading. It is still under debate whether the occurrence of this benefit is because of the semantic association between the preview and target words or because of the contextual fit of the preview word in the sentence context. Methods Two independent factors, preview plausibility (preview plausible/implausible) and semantic relatedness (semantically related/unrelated), were manipulated, and we further strictly controlled for syntactic plausibility in the present study. Results The results showed that the first-pass reading times of the target words were significantly shorter in the plausible preview condition than in the implausible preview condition. However, the main effect of semantic relatedness was found only in the gaze duration measure. Discussion The pattern of results revealed that semantic plausibility affects the semantic preview benefit preferentially in Chinese reading, supporting the contextual fit account. Our findings have implications for a better understanding of parafoveal processing and provide empirical support for the eye-movement control model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijuan Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Zhiwei Liu
- School of Education and Psychology, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Zigong, Sichuan, China
| | - Sainan Zhao
- School of Education, Linyi University, Linyi, Shandong, China
| | - Jingxin Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
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Li N, Li G, Wang S. Parafoveal preview benefit in a conflicting sentential context: Evidence from ERPs. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1063923. [PMID: 36457924 PMCID: PMC9706227 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1063923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2023] Open
Abstract
In natural reading, the reader's processing of a word starts when the word is located in parafoveal vision. Relative to a situation with an invalid preview, fixations are significantly shorter after a fully valid, identical preview. Although research on the identity preview benefit has been ongoing for more than 40 years, the mechanism of this preview benefit, the level of lexical processing it occurs, and its relationship to the sentential context remain unclear. This study employed EEG brain component analysis technology to address these questions in Chinese sentence reading. We manipulated the sentential context to make the target word plausible or not plausible with the sentence and manipulated the target word present or not present in preview. EEG results showed that the identity preview benefit can affect not only the early preview positivity, reflecting the early orthographic processing of words, but also the N400 and LPC components, reflecting the late and in-depth semantic processing of words. Conflicting sentential context, in which the target word is implausible and cannot be integrated into the sentence, can interfere temporarily with these processes. These findings suggest that in the process of sentence reading, an identical preview word can promote the subsequent reading process at multiple levels, and its role is modulated by contextual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nan Li
- School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University) Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Language Cognition and Assessment, Guangdong, China
| | - Gantang Li
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Suiping Wang
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University) Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
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Li N, Dimigen O, Sommer W, Wang S. Parafoveal words can modulate sentence meaning: Electrophysiological evidence from an RSVP-with-flanker task. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14053. [PMID: 35512086 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2021] [Revised: 02/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
During natural reading, readers can take up some visual information from not-yet-fixated words to the right of the current fixation and it is well-established that this parafoveal preview facilitates the subsequent foveal processing of the word. However, the extraction and integration of word meaning from parafoveal words and their possible influence on the semantic content of the sentence are controversial. In the current study, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in the RSVP-with-flankers paradigm to test whether and how updates of sentential meaning, based only on parafoveal information, may influence the subsequent foveal processing. In Chinese sentences, the congruency of parafoveal and foveal target words with the sentence was orthogonally manipulated. In contrast to previous research, we also controlled for potentially confounding effects of parafoveal-to-foveal repetition priming (identity preview effects) on the N400. Crucially, we found that the classic effect of foveal congruency on the N400 component only appeared when the word in preview had been congruent with sentence meaning; in contrast, there was no N400 as a function of foveal incongruency when the preview word had also been incongruent. These results indicate that sentence meaning rapidly adapts to parafoveal preview, altering the semantic context for the subsequently fixated word. We also show that correct parafoveal preview generally attenuates the N400 once a word is fixated, regardless of congruency. Taken together, our findings underline the highly generative and adaptive framework of language comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nan Li
- School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,Center for Language Cognition and Assessment, Guangzhou, China
| | - Olaf Dimigen
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt University at Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Werner Sommer
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt University at Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Suiping Wang
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
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