TY  - INPR
A1  - Gagl, Benjamin
A1  - Gregorova, Klara
A1  - Golch, Julius
A1  - Hawelka, Stefan
A1  - Sassenhagen, Jona
A1  - Tavano, Alessandro
A1  - Poeppel, David
A1  - Fiebach, Christian
T1  - Eye movements during text reading align with the rate of speech production
T2  - bioRxiv
N2  - Across languages, the speech signal is characterized by a predominant modulation of the amplitude spectrum between about 4.3-5.5Hz, reflecting the production and processing of linguistic information chunks (syllables, words) every ∼200ms. Interestingly, ∼200ms is also the typical duration of eye fixations during reading. Prompted by this observation, we demonstrate that German readers sample written text at ∼5Hz. A subsequent meta-analysis with 142 studies from 14 languages replicates this result, but also shows that sampling frequencies vary across languages between 3.9Hz and 5.2Hz, and that this variation systematically depends on the complexity of the writing systems (character-based vs. alphabetic systems, orthographic transparency). Finally, we demonstrate empirically a positive correlation between speech spectrum and eye-movement sampling in low-skilled readers. Based on this convergent evidence, we propose that during reading, our brain’s linguistic processing systems imprint a preferred processing rate, i.e., the rate of spoken language production and perception, onto the oculomotor system.
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/72891
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-728915
IS  - 391896
ER  -