Visual Attention and Eye Movement Control During Reading and Picture Viewing

Abstract

Experimental psychologists have known for some time that it is possible to allocate visual-spatial attention to one region of the visual field even as we maintain eye fixation on another region. As William James stated It, " ... we may attend to an object on the periphery of the visual field and yet not accommodate the eye for it" (James, 1890/1950, p. 437). At the same time, experimental psychologists have also known that dU~lflg the course of a complex visual task such as reading or picture vrewrng, Our eyes move from one location to another at an average rate of 3 to 5 times per second (e.g., Rayner, 1978; Tinker, 1939; Yarbus, 1967). The question therefore arises how these covert and overt changes processing focus are related. This is the question addressed in the present chapter.