Barbara J. Juhasz

Age-of-acquisition effects in word and picture identification

Words and pictures with earlier learned labels are processed faster than words and pictures with later learned labels. This age-of-acquisition (AoA) effect has been extensively investigated in many different types of tasks. This article provides a review of these studies including picture naming, word naming, speeded word naming, word pronunciation durations, lexical decisions, eye fixation times, face recognition, and episodic memory tasks. The measurement and validity of AoA ratings is discussed, along with statistical techniques used for exploring AoAs influence. Finally, theories of AoA are outlined, and evidence for and against the various theories is presented.

Investigating the effects of a set of intercorrelated variables on eye fixation durations in reading

The present experiment investigated the influence of 5 intercorrelated variables on word recognition using a multiple regression analysis. The 5 variables were word frequency, subjective familiarity, word length, concreteness, and age of acquisition (AoA). Target words were embedded in sentences and eye tracking methodology was used to investigate the predictive power of these variables. All 5 variables were found to influence reading time. However, the time course of these variables differed. Both word frequency and familiarity showed an early but lasting influence on eye fixation durations. Word length only significantly predicted fixation durations after refixations on the target words were taken into account. This is the 1st experiment to demonstrate concreteness and AoA effects on eye fixations.

The effects of morphology on the processing of compound words: evidence from naming, lexical decisions and eye fixations.

The use of lexemes during the recognition of spatially unified familiar English compounds was examined in naming, lexical decision and sentence-reading tasks by manipulating beginning and ending lexeme frequencies while controlling overall compound frequencies. All tasks revealed robust ending lexeme frequency effects, with compound processing being more effective when the ending lexeme was a high-frequency word. Beginning lexeme frequency effects were more elusive and dependent on task demands. Eye movements, recorded during sentence reading, also indicated that the effects of ending lexemes occurred after the first fixation during compound viewing. Together, the results suggest either that the ending lexeme is used as an access code to locate the meaning of the full compound word or that its meaning is coactive with the meaning of the full compound.

Binocular coordination of the eyes during reading: Word frequency and case alternation affect fixation duration but not fixation disparity

This experiment investigated whether properties of the text being read affect binocular coordination of the eyes during reading. Readers’ binocular eye movements were recorded while they read sentences that contained high- and low-frequency words. In addition, half of the sentences were presented in normal case, and half were presented in alternating case (i.e., AlTeRnAtInG cAsE). Past research has suggested that the visual system tolerates less binocular fixation disparity with alternating than with normal case (Heller & Radach, 1999). While both word frequency and alternating case produced large effects on fixation durations on the target word, neither manipulation affected the magnitude of fixation disparity. It is concluded that linguistic and visual properties of the text being read do not influence binocular coordination of the eyes during reading. Additional analyses also showed no difference in fixation disparity between reading and a nonlinguistic task. Implications of these results for split-fovea models of reading are discussed.

The effect of word predictability on the eye movements of Chinese readers

Eye movements of Chinese readers were monitored as they read sentences containing target words whose predictability from the preceding context was high, medium, or low. Readers fixated for less time on high- and medium-predictable target words than on low-predictable target words. They were also more likely to fixate on low-predictable target words than on high- or medium-predictable target words. The results were highly similar to those of a study by Rayner and Well (1996) with English readers and demonstrate that Chinese readers, like readers of English, exploit target word predictability during reading.

The role of age of acquisition and word frequency in reading: Evidence from eye fixation durations

Over the past several decades, many researchers have examined how a words age of acquisition (AoA) contributes to word recognition. Most of these studies, however, have used word-in-isolation experiments. At the same time, many studies have utilized eye tracking techniques to investigate the word frequency effect during reading. The present experiments sought to tie these two types of research together by investigating the influence of AoA and frequency on word processing. Specifically, eye movements were recorded as participants read sentences. The first experiment orthogonally manipulated frequency and AoA. In Experiment 2, participants read sentences that contained target words that varied in AoA but were controlled on various measures of word frequency. The same participants also read sentences containing high and low frequency words that were controlled on AoA. Results from these two experiments converged to demonstrate that both frequency and AoA affect eye fixation durations during sentence reading.

Adults' number-line estimation strategies: evidence from eye movements.

Although the development of number-line estimation ability is well documented, little is known of the processes underlying successful estimators’ mappings of numerical information onto spatial representations during these tasks. We tracked adults’ eye movements during a number-line estimation task to investigate the processes underlying number-to-space translation, with three main results. First, eye movements were strongly related to the target number’s location, and early processing measures directly predicted later estimation performance. Second, fixations and estimates were influenced by the size of the first number presented, indicating that adults calibrate their estimates online. Third, adults’ number-line estimates demonstrated patterns of error consistent with the predictions of psychophysical models of proportion estimation, and eye movement data predicted the specific error patterns we observed. These results support proportion-based accounts of number-line estimation and suggest that adults’ translation of numerical information into spatial representations is a rapid, online process.

Do readers obtain preview benefit from word n + 2? A test of serial attention shift versus distributed lexical processing models of eye movement control in reading

Two experiments tested predictions derived from serial lexical processing and parallel distributed models of eye movement control in reading. The boundary paradigm (K. Rayner, 1975) was used, and the boundary location was set either at the end of word n - 1 (the word just to the left of the target word) or at the end of word n - 2. Serial lexical processing models predict that there should be preview benefit only when the boundary is set at word n - 1 (when the target word will be the next word fixated) and no preview benefit when the boundary is set at word n - 2. Parallel lexical models, on the other hand, predict that there should be some preview benefit in both situations. Consistent with the predictions of the serial lexical processing models, there was no preview benefit for a target word when the boundary was set at the end of word n - 2. Furthermore, there was no evidence of parafoveal-on-foveal effects.

The role of interword spaces in the processing of English compound words

Four experiments are reported which examined the role of interword spaces in the processing of English compound words. Normally nonspaced compounds (e.g., softball) as well as normally spaced compounds (e.g., front door) were presented with either their correct spatial layout (softball, front door) or with an incorrect spatial layout (soft ball, frontdoor). Lexical decisions and first fixations on the compounds showed an advantage for interword spaces. However, when refixations on the compounds were taken into account, inserting a space into a normally nonspaced compound significantly disrupted processing. This disruption was larger for adjective-noun compounds than for noun-noun compounds. The results indicate that spatially segmenting compounds facilitates access to the constituent lexemes while spatial unification of compounds benefits the specification of full compound meaning.

Eye movements and the use of parafoveal word length information in reading.

Eye movements were monitored in 4 experiments that explored the role of parafoveal word length in reading. The experiments employed a type of compound word where the deletion of a letter results in 2 short words (e.g., backhand, back and). The boundary technique (K. Rayner, 1975) was employed to manipulate word length information in the parafovea. Accuracy of the parafoveal word length preview significantly affected landing positions and fixation durations. This disruption was larger for 2-word targets, but the results demonstrated that this interaction was not due to the morphological status of the target words. Manipulation of sentence context also demonstrated that parafoveal word length information can be used in combination with sentence context to narrow down lexical candidates. The 4 experiments converge in demonstrating that an important role of parafoveal word length information is to direct the eyes to the center of the parafoveal word.