A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Development of the letter identity span in reading: Evidence from the eye movement moving window paradigm
Authors: Haikio T, Bertram R, Hyona J, Niemi P
Publisher: ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
Publication year: 2009
Journal: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Journal name in source: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY
Journal acronym: J EXP CHILD PSYCHOL
Volume: 102
Issue: 2
First page : 167
Last page: 181
Number of pages: 15
ISSN: 0022-0965
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2008.04.002
Abstract
By means of the moving window paradigm, we examined how many letters can be identified during a single eye fixation and whether this letter identity span changes as a function of reading skill. The results revealed that 8-year-old Finnish readers identify approximately 5 characters, 10-year-old readers identify approximately 7 characters, and 12-year-old and adult readers identify approximately 9 characters to the right of fixation. Comparison with earlier studies revealed that the letter identity span is smaller than the span for identifying letter features and that it is as wide in Finnish as in English. Furthermore, the letter identity span of faster readers of each age group was larger than that of slower readers, indicating that slower readers, unlike faster readers, allocate most of their processing resources to foveally fixated words. Finally, slower second graders were largely not disrupted by smaller windows, suggesting that their word decoding skill is not yet fully automatized. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
By means of the moving window paradigm, we examined how many letters can be identified during a single eye fixation and whether this letter identity span changes as a function of reading skill. The results revealed that 8-year-old Finnish readers identify approximately 5 characters, 10-year-old readers identify approximately 7 characters, and 12-year-old and adult readers identify approximately 9 characters to the right of fixation. Comparison with earlier studies revealed that the letter identity span is smaller than the span for identifying letter features and that it is as wide in Finnish as in English. Furthermore, the letter identity span of faster readers of each age group was larger than that of slower readers, indicating that slower readers, unlike faster readers, allocate most of their processing resources to foveally fixated words. Finally, slower second graders were largely not disrupted by smaller windows, suggesting that their word decoding skill is not yet fully automatized. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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