Focus Identification during Sentence Comprehension: Evidence from Eye Movements

2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (10) ◽  
pp. 1423-1445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin B. Paterson ◽  
Simon P. Liversedge ◽  
Ruth Filik ◽  
Barbara J. Juhasz ◽  
Sarah J. White ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Double Object ◽  
Time Effects ◽  
Particle Position ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Focus Particle ◽  
On Line

Three eye movement experiments investigated focus identification during sentence comprehension. Participants read dative or double-object sentences (i.e., either the direct or indirect object occurred first), and a replacive continuation supplied a contrast that was congruous with either the direct or the indirect object. Experiments 1 and 2 manipulated focus by locating only adjacent to either the direct or indirect object of dative (Experiment 1) or double-object (Experiment 2) sentences. Reading-time effects indicated that the surface position of the focus particle influenced processing. In addition, Experiment 1 reading times were longer when the replacive was incongruous with the constituent that only adjoined, and particle position modulated a similar effect in Experiment 2. Experiment 3 showed that this effect was absent when only was omitted. We conclude that the surface position of a focus particle modulates focus identification during on-line sentence comprehension.

scholarly journals Enhancement of Multiple Components of Pursuit Eye Movement by Microstimulation in the Arcuate Frontal Pursuit Area in Monkeys

2002 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 802-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaki Tanaka ◽  
Stephen G. Lisberger
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Gain Control ◽  
Target Velocity ◽  
Stationary Target ◽  
Electrical Microstimulation ◽  
Eye Motion ◽  
On Line ◽  
Eye Velocity

Periarcuate frontal cortex is involved in the control of smooth pursuit eye movements, but its role remains unclear. To better understand the control of pursuit by the “frontal pursuit area” (FPA), we applied electrical microstimulation when the monkeys were performing a variety of oculomotor tasks. In agreement with previous studies, electrical stimulation consisting of a train of 50-μA pulses at 333 Hz during fixation of a stationary target elicited smooth eye movements with a short latency (∼26 ms). The size of the elicited smooth eye movements was enhanced when the stimulation pulses were delivered during the maintenance of pursuit. The enhancement increased as a function of ongoing pursuit speed and was greater during pursuit in the same versus opposite direction of the eye movements evoked at a site. If stimulation was delivered during pursuit in eight different directions, the elicited eye velocity was fit best by a model incorporating two stimulation effects: a directional signal that drives eye velocity and an increase in the gain of ongoing pursuit eye speed in all directions. Separate experiments tested the effect of stimulation on the response to specific image motions. Stimulation consisted of a train of pulses at 100 or 200 Hz delivered during fixation so that only small smooth eye movements were elicited. If the stationary target was perturbed briefly during microstimulation, normally weak eye movement responses showed strong enhancement. If delivered at the initiation of pursuit, the same microstimulation caused enhancement of the presaccadic initiation of pursuit for steps of target velocity that moved the target either away from the position of fixation or in the direction of the eye movement caused by stimulation at the site. Stimulation in the FPA increased the latency of saccades to stationary or moving targets. Our results show that the FPA has two kinds of effects on the pursuit system. One drives smooth eye velocity in a fixed direction and is subject to on-line gain control by ongoing pursuit. The other causes enhancement of both the speed of ongoing pursuit and the responses to visual motion in a way that is not strongly selective for the direction of pursuit. Enhancement may operate either at a single site or at multiple sites. We conclude that the FPA plays an important role in on-line gain control for pursuit as well as possibly delivering commands for the direction and speed of smooth eye motion.

Pragmatic influences on sentence integration: Evidence from eye movements

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 2742-2751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijing Chen ◽  
Kevin B Paterson ◽  
Xingshan Li ◽  
Lin Li ◽  
Yufang Yang
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Discourse Processing ◽  
Target Element ◽  
Facilitation Effect ◽  
Focus Particle ◽  
Pragmatic Information ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
Syntactic Information ◽  
Processing Difficulty

To understand a discourse, readers must rapidly process semantic and syntactic information and extract the pragmatic information these sources imply. An important question concerns how this pragmatic information influences discourse processing in return. We address this issue in two eye movement experiments that investigate the influence of pragmatic inferences on the processing of inter-sentence integration. In Experiments 1a and 1b, participants read two-sentence discourses in Chinese in which the first sentence introduced an event and the second described its consequence, where the sentences were linked using either the causal connective “suoyi” (meaning “so” or “therefore”) or not. The second sentence included a target word that was unmarked or marked using the focus particle “zhiyou” (meaning “only”) in Experiment 1a or “shi” (equivalent to an it-cleft) in Experiment 1b. These particles have the pragmatic function of implying a contrast between a target element and its alternatives. The results showed that while the causal connective facilitated the processing of unmarked words in causal contexts (a connective facilitation effect), this effect was eliminated by the presence of the focus particle. This implies that contrastive information is inferred sufficiently rapidly during reading that it can influence semantic processes involved in sentence integration. Experiment 2 showed that disruption due to conflict between the processing requirements of focus and inter-sentence integration occurred only in causal and not adversative connective contexts, confirming that processing difficulty occurred when a contrastive relationship was not possible.

scholarly journals Spatio-temporal Brain Dynamics Underlying Saccade Execution, Suppression, and Error-related Feedback

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony T. Herdman ◽  
Jennifer D. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Eye Field ◽  
On Line ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
Empirical Demonstration

Human and nonhuman animal research has outlined the neural regions that support saccadic eye movements. The aim of the current work was to outline the sequence by which distinct neural regions come on-line to support goal-directed saccade execution and error-related feedback. To achieve this, we obtained behavioral responses via eye movement recordings and neural responses via magnetoencephalography (MEG), concurrently, while participants performed an antisaccade task. Neural responses were examined with respect to the onset of the saccadic eye movements. Frontal eye field and visual cortex activity distinguished subsequently successful goal-directed saccades from (correct and erroneous) reflexive saccades prior to the deployment of the eye movement. Activity in the same neural regions following the saccadic movement distinguished correct from incorrect saccadic responses. Error-related activity in the frontal eye fields preceded that from visual regions, suggesting a potential feedback network that may drive corrective eye movements. This work provides the first empirical demonstration of simultaneous remote eyetracking and MEG recording. The coupling of behavioral and neuroimaging technologies, used here to characterize dynamic brain networks underlying saccade execution and error-related feedback, demonstrates a novel within-paradigm converging evidence approach by which to outline the neural underpinnings of cognition.

Meta-Analysis of Eye Movements Between Children With and Without Dyslexia or Reading Disability

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-24
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Reading Disability ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Fixation Duration ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Eligibility Criteria

Background: Hundreds of studies have compared eye movement variables in subjects with and without dyslexia or reading disability. Most studied only small sample sizes and the eye movement tasks and targets varied. The aims of this study are to determine which, if any, eye movement variable(s) differ between children with and without dyslexia or reading disability, and, if differences are found, quantify the amount. Methods: Search engines PubMed and Salus/EBSCO Discover Database for key words eye movements OR saccades OR fixation AND dyslexia OR reading disability yielded 728 titles. Following initial study eligibility criteria (objective eye movement variable measures of children age 6-15.5 years in defined case and control groups), 43 studies qualified for in depth review. Eleven studies qualified for data synthesis. Data were extracted, tested for normality by Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic, standardized, weighted by sample size, tested for homogeneity by Q test, pooled and measured for combined effect. Results: Combined relative risk effect revealed fixation duration, number of fixations, and number of regressions when reading words to be 2.33 (95% CI: 2.12-2.54) times longer, 1.58 (95% CI: 1.52-1.65) times higher, and 1.83 (95% CI: 1.68-1.97) times higher respectively in children with dyslexia or reading disability compared to age normal readers. Differences reading pseudowords were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Significant differences in fixation duration, number of fixations, and number of regressions were found during word reading. Because most reading time is during the fixation duration, children with dyslexia or reading disability need, on average, 2.33 times longer. The results provide objective data to support reading time accommodations for Individual Education Plans. Systematic review suggests that oculomotility ability depends on the amount of cognitive processing rather than purely on extra ocular muscle control.

scholarly journals Context-Dependent Smooth Eye Movements Evoked by Stationary Visual Stimuli in Trained Monkeys

2000 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 1748-1762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaki Tanaka ◽  
Stephen G. Lisberger
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Gain Control ◽  
Target Motion ◽  
Target Velocity ◽  
Moving Targets ◽  
On Line ◽  
Controlling Element ◽  
Vector Averaging ◽  
The Right

The appearance of a stationary but irrelevant cue triggers a smooth eye movement away from the position of the cue in monkeys that have been trained extensively to smoothly track the motion of moving targets while not making saccades to the stationary cue. We have analyzed the parameters that regulate the size of the cue-evoked smooth eye movement and examined whether presentation of the cue changes the initiation of pursuit for subsequent steps of target velocity. Cues evoked smooth eye movements in blocks of target motions that required smooth pursuit to moving targets, but evoked much smaller smooth eye movements in blocks that required saccades to stationary targets. The direction of the cue-evoked eye movement was always opposite to the position of the cue and did not depend on whether subsequent target motion was toward or away from the position of fixation. The latency of the cue-evoked smooth eye movement was near 100 ms and was slightly longer than the latency of pursuit for target motion away from the position of fixation. The size of the cue-evoked smooth eye movement was as large as 10°/s and decreased as functions of the eccentricity of the cue and the illumination of the experimental room. To study the initiation of pursuit in the wake of the cues, we used bilateral cues at equal eccentricities to the right and left of the position of fixation. These evoked smaller eye velocities that were consistent with vector averaging of the responses to each cue. In the wake of bilateral cues, the initiation of pursuit was enhanced for target motion away from the position of fixation, but not for target motion toward the position of fixation. We suggest that the cue-evoked smooth eye movement is related to a previously postulated on-line gain control for pursuit, and that it is a side-effect of sudden activation of the gain-controlling element.

Fatal mistake, awful mistake, or extreme mistake? Frequency effects on off-line/on-line collocational processing

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUHAD SONBUL
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
First Pass ◽  
Total Reading Time ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study explored whether native speakers of English and non-natives are sensitive to corpus-derived frequency of synonymous adjective-noun collocations (e.g., fatal mistake, awful mistake, and extreme mistake) and whether level of proficiency can influence this sensitivity. Both off-line (typicality rating task) and on-line (eye-movement) measures were employed. Off-line results showed that both natives and non-natives were sensitive to collocational frequency with clearer effects for non-natives as their proficiency increased. On-line, however, proficiency had no effect on sensitivity to frequency; both natives and non-natives showed early sensitivity to collocational frequency (first pass reading time). This on-line sensitivity disappeared later in processing for both groups (total reading time and fixation count). Results are discussed in light of usage-based theories of language acquisition and processing.

Age Differences in Eye Movements During Reading: Degenerative Problems or Compensatory Strategy?

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-311
Author(s):  
José David Moreno ◽  
José A. León ◽  
Lorena A. M. Arnal ◽  
Juan Botella
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Aging Effects ◽  
Movement Data ◽  
Sentence Reading ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Eye Movements During Reading

Abstract. We report the results of a meta-analysis of 22 experiments comparing the eye movement data obtained from young ( Mage = 21 years) and old ( Mage = 73 years) readers. The data included six eye movement measures (mean gaze duration, mean fixation duration, total sentence reading time, mean number of fixations, mean number of regressions, and mean length of progressive saccade eye movements). Estimates were obtained of the typified mean difference, d, between the age groups in all six measures. The results showed positive combined effect size estimates in favor of the young adult group (between 0.54 and 3.66 in all measures), although the difference for the mean number of fixations was not significant. Young adults make in a systematic way, shorter gazes, fewer regressions, and shorter saccadic movements during reading than older adults, and they also read faster. The meta-analysis results confirm statistically the most common patterns observed in previous research; therefore, eye movements seem to be a useful tool to measure behavioral changes due to the aging process. Moreover, these results do not allow us to discard either of the two main hypotheses assessed for explaining the observed aging effects, namely neural degenerative problems and the adoption of compensatory strategies.

scholarly journals Eye Movements in Response to Pain-Related Feelings in the Presence of Low and High Cognitive Loads

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Ramtin Zargari Marandi ◽  
Camilla Ann Fjelsted ◽  
Iris Hrustanovic ◽  
Rikke Dan Olesen ◽  
Parisa Gazerani
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Pain Perception ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Load Level ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Movement Characteristics

The affective dimension of pain contributes to pain perception. Cognitive load may influence pain-related feelings. Eye tracking has proven useful for detecting cognitive load effects objectively by using relevant eye movement characteristics. In this study, we investigated whether eye movement characteristics differ in response to pain-related feelings in the presence of low and high cognitive loads. A set of validated, control, and pain-related sounds were applied to provoke pain-related feelings. Twelve healthy young participants (six females) performed a cognitive task at two load levels, once with the control and once with pain-related sounds in a randomized order. During the tasks, eye movements and task performance were recorded. Afterwards, the participants were asked to fill out questionnaires on their pain perception in response to the applied cognitive loads. Our findings indicate that an increased cognitive load was associated with a decreased saccade peak velocity, saccade frequency, and fixation frequency, as well as an increased fixation duration and pupil dilation range. Among the oculometrics, pain-related feelings were reflected only in the pupillary responses to a low cognitive load. The performance and perceived cognitive load decreased and increased, respectively, with the task load level and were not influenced by the pain-related sounds. Pain-related feelings were lower when performing the task compared with when no task was being performed in an independent group of participants. This might be due to the cognitive engagement during the task. This study demonstrated that cognitive processing could moderate the feelings associated with pain perception.

scholarly journals Role of Primate Cerebellar Hemisphere in Voluntary Eye Movement Control Revealed by Lesion Effects

2009 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 934-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masafumi Ohki ◽  
Hiromasa Kitazawa ◽  
Takahito Hiramatsu ◽  
Kimitake Kaga ◽  
Taiko Kitamura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Cerebellar Hemisphere ◽  
Target Velocity ◽  
Eye Movement Control ◽  
Pursuit Eye Movements ◽  
Catch Up

The anatomical connection between the frontal eye field and the cerebellar hemispheric lobule VII (H-VII) suggests a potential role of the hemisphere in voluntary eye movement control. To reveal the involvement of the hemisphere in smooth pursuit and saccade control, we made a unilateral lesion around H-VII and examined its effects in three Macaca fuscata that were trained to pursue visually a small target. To the step (3°)-ramp (5–20°/s) target motion, the monkeys usually showed an initial pursuit eye movement at a latency of 80–140 ms and a small catch-up saccade at 140–220 ms that was followed by a postsaccadic pursuit eye movement that roughly matched the ramp target velocity. After unilateral cerebellar hemispheric lesioning, the initial pursuit eye movements were impaired, and the velocities of the postsaccadic pursuit eye movements decreased. The onsets of 5° visually guided saccades to the stationary target were delayed, and their amplitudes showed a tendency of increased trial-to-trial variability but never became hypo- or hypermetric. Similar tendencies were observed in the onsets and amplitudes of catch-up saccades. The adaptation of open-loop smooth pursuit velocity, tested by a step increase in target velocity for a brief period, was impaired. These lesion effects were recognized in all directions, particularly in the ipsiversive direction. A recovery was observed at 4 wk postlesion for some of these lesion effects. These results suggest that the cerebellar hemispheric region around lobule VII is involved in the control of smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements.

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