Elsevier

Vision Research

Volume 48, Issue 18, August 2008, Pages 1870-1878
Vision Research

Page mode reading with simulated scotomas: Oculo-motor patterns

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2008.06.005Get rights and content
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Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between reading speed and oculo-motor parameters when normally sighted observers had to read single sentences with an artificial macular scotoma. Using multiple regression analysis, our main result shows that two significant predictors, number of saccades per sentence followed by average fixation duration, account for 94% of reading speed variance: reading speed decreases when number of saccades and fixation duration increase. The number of letters per forward saccade (L/FS), which was measured directly in contrast to previous studies, is not a significant predictor. The results suggest that, independently of the size of saccades, some or all portions of a sentence are temporally integrated across an increasing number of fixations as reading speed is reduced.

Keywords

Saccades
Fixations
Central field loss
AMD
Reading
Simulated scotoma
Low vision
Peripheral vision

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