Neural evidence for lexical parafoveal processing

Yali Pan; Steven Frisson; Ole Jensen

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25571-x

Neural evidence for lexical parafoveal processing

Yali Pan, Steven Frisson, Ole Jensen

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Abstract

In spite of the reduced visual acuity, parafoveal information plays an important role in natural reading. However, competing models on reading disagree on whether words are previewed parafoveally at the lexical level. We find neural evidence for lexical parafoveal processing by combining a rapid invisible frequency tagging (RIFT) approach with magnetoencephalography (MEG) and eye-tracking. In a silent reading task, target words are tagged (flickered) subliminally at 60 Hz. The tagging responses measured when fixating on the pre-target word reflect parafoveal processing of the target word. We observe stronger tagging responses during pre-target fixations when followed by low compared with high lexical frequency targets. Moreover, this lexical parafoveal processing is associated with individual reading speed. Our findings suggest that reading unfolds in the fovea and parafovea simultaneously to support fluent reading.

Original language	English
Article number	5234
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25571-x
Publication status	Published - 2 Sept 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Federica Degno and Prof. Simon Liversedge for sharing the second sentence set, Dr. Geoffrey Brookshire and Yang Cao for feedback on the manuscript. This work was supported by the following grants to O.J.: the James S. McDonnell Foundation Understanding Human Cognition Collaborative Award (grant number 220020448), Wellcome Trust Investigator Award in Science (grant number 207550), and the BBSRC grant (BB/R018723/1) as well as the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Keywords

Eye Movements/physiology
Female
Fixation, Ocular/physiology
Fovea Centralis/physiology
Humans
Macula Lutea/physiology
Male
Models, Neurological
Reading
Visual Cortex/physiology
Visual Perception/physiology
Young Adult

Access to Document

10.1038/s41467-021-25571-xLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

PanY2021NeuralFinal published version, 1.59 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

Casual brain connectivity: Brain stimulation combined with optically pumped magnetometers
Barontini, G. & Jensen, O.
Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council
28/07/18 → 27/01/22
Project: Research
Phase coding in the visual system: neuronal processing coordinated by brain oscillations
Jensen, O.
THE WELLCOME TRUST
1/11/17 → 1/11/23
Project: Research

Cite this

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abstract = "In spite of the reduced visual acuity, parafoveal information plays an important role in natural reading. However, competing models on reading disagree on whether words are previewed parafoveally at the lexical level. We find neural evidence for lexical parafoveal processing by combining a rapid invisible frequency tagging (RIFT) approach with magnetoencephalography (MEG) and eye-tracking. In a silent reading task, target words are tagged (flickered) subliminally at 60 Hz. The tagging responses measured when fixating on the pre-target word reflect parafoveal processing of the target word. We observe stronger tagging responses during pre-target fixations when followed by low compared with high lexical frequency targets. Moreover, this lexical parafoveal processing is associated with individual reading speed. Our findings suggest that reading unfolds in the fovea and parafovea simultaneously to support fluent reading.",

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Neural evidence for lexical parafoveal processing

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Projects

Casual brain connectivity: Brain stimulation combined with optically pumped magnetometers

Phase coding in the visual system: neuronal processing coordinated by brain oscillations

Cite this