Modulation of oculomotor control during reading of mirrored and inverted texts

TL;DR

This study examines how oculomotor control adapts during reading of mirrored and inverted texts, revealing significant changes in eye movement patterns and landing positions, indicating high adaptability of the oculomotor system.

Contribution

It provides detailed analysis of eye movement adjustments and landing positions during reading of manipulated text layouts, highlighting the oculomotor system's flexibility.

Findings

Reduced launch-site effect in reversed letter order reading

Increased launch-site effect in other manipulated conditions

Overall slower reading performance with manipulated texts

Abstract

The interplay between cognitive and oculomotor processes during reading can be explored when the spatial layout of text deviates from the typical display. In this study, we investigate various eye-movement measures during reading of text with experimentally manipulated layout (word-wise and letter-wise mirrored-reversed text as well as inverted and scrambled text). While typical findings (e.g., longer mean fixation times, shorter mean saccades lengths) in reading manipulated texts compared to normal texts were reported in earlier work, little is known about changes of oculomotor targeting observed in within-word landing positions under the above text layouts. Here we carry out precise analyses of landing positions and find substantial changes in the so-called launch-site effect in addition to the expected overall slow-down of reading performance. Specifically, during reading of our manipulated text conditions with reversed letter order (against overall reading direction), we find a reduced launch-site effect, while in all other manipulated text conditions, we observe an increased launch-site effect. Our results clearly indicate that the oculomotor system is highly adaptive when confronted with unusual reading conditions.