Eye movements and brain responses in natural reading

Intuitively, it is clear that neural processes and eye movements in reading are closely connected, but only few studies have investigated both signals simultaneously. Instead, the usual approach is to record them in separate experiments and to subsequently consolidate the results. However, studies using this approach have shown that it is feasible to coregister eye movements and EEG in natural reading and contributed greatly to the understanding of oculomotor processes in reading. The present thesis builds upon that work, assessing to what extent coregistration can be helpful for sentence processing research. In the first study, we explore how well coregistration is suited to study subtle effects common to psycholinguistic experiments by investigating the effect of distance on dependency resolution. The results demonstrate that researchers must improve the signal-to-noise ratio to uncover more subdued effects in coregistration. In the second study, we compare oscillatory responses in different presentation modes. Using robust effects from world knowledge violations, we show that the generation and retrieval of memory traces may differ between natural reading and word-by-word presentation. In the third study, we bridge the gap between our knowledge of behavioral and neural responses to integration difficulties in reading by analyzing the EEG in the context of regressive saccades. We find the P600, a neural indicator of recovery processes, when readers make a regressive saccade in response to integration difficulties. The results in the present thesis demonstrate that coregistration can be a useful tool for the study of sentence processing. However, they also show that it may not be suitable for some questions, especially if they involve subtle effects.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Potsdam

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Metzner, Paul-Philipp

Contributors dc:contributor

• Rösler, Frank
• Vasishth, Shravan

• natural reading
• sentence processing
• eye tracking
• EEG
• coregistration
• dependency resolution
• neural oscillations
• regressive saccades
• natürliches Lesen
• Satzverarbeitung
• Blickbewegungen
• Koregistrierung
• Abhängigkeitsauflösung
• neuronale Oszillationen
• regressive Sakkaden

Statement dc:rights

• Keine öffentliche Lizenz: Unter Urheberrechtsschutz

Repository record source_url

https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/8280

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-potsdam:8280