The proposed research will implement a new approach to study reading by functionally synchronising state-of-the-art eyetracking and electrophysiological (EEG) apparatus. The project will examine well-known word frequency and contextual predictability effects in reading, when target words of interest are processed both parafoveally (from the prior eye fixation) and subsequently, foveally (from the target fixation). It is expected that the results will provide a better psychological and neurophysiological understanding of parafoveal preview benefit, foveal processing, and oculomotor (eye movement) control in reading. In terms of psychological processes, the methods employed will reveal a fine-grained temporal structure of these basic components of reading. Although computationally complex, the proposed approach relies on key features which contrast with traditional techniques and which provide greater statistical reliability. There are novel findings which can only be obtained by using this methodology. First the results will help to discriminate current and contentious hypotheses about how a reader's visual attention is allocated during reading (serial versus parallel). Second the results will provide a detailed time course of eye movement motor programming. Finally the results will further inform theories of reading and reading disorders. From a neuroscience perspective, this approach will help reveal the cerebral dynamics of natural reading.

eye movement and EEG data collected