Development of the perceptual span in reading: A longitudinal study
Autor: | Anja Sperlich, Jochen Laubrock, Johannes M. Meixner |
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Rok vydání: | 2015 |
Předmět: |
Male
Longitudinal study Visual perception Vision span Eye Movements media_common.quotation_subject Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Standard measure 050105 experimental psychology Developmental psychology Child Development Reading (process) Germany Developmental and Educational Psychology Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Longitudinal Studies Child media_common 05 social sciences Age Factors 050301 education Eye movement Moving window Child development Cross-Sectional Studies Reading Visual Perception Female Psychology 0503 education Cognitive psychology |
Zdroj: | Journal of experimental child psychology. 146 |
ISSN: | 1096-0457 |
Popis: | The perceptual span is a standard measure of parafoveal processing, which is considered highly important for efficient reading. Is the perceptual span a stable indicator of reading performance? What drives its development? Do initially slower and faster readers converge or diverge over development? Here we present the first longitudinal data on the development of the perceptual span in elementary school children. Using the moving window technique, eye movements of 127 German children in three age groups (Grades 1, 2, and 3 in Year 1) were recorded at two time points (T1 and T2) 1 year apart. Introducing a new measure of the perceptual span, nonlinear mixed-effects modeling was used to separate window size effects from asymptotic reading performance. Cross-sectional differences were well replicated longitudinally. Asymptotic reading rate increased monotonously with grade, but in a decelerating fashion. A significant change in the perceptual span was observed only between Grades 2 and 3. Together with results from a cross-lagged panel model, this suggests that the perceptual span increases as a consequence of relatively well-established word reading. Stabilities of observed and predicted reading rates were high after Grade 1, whereas the perceptual span was only moderately stable for all grades. Comparing faster and slower readers as assessed at T1, in general, a pattern of stable between-group differences emerged rather than a compensatory pattern; second and third graders even showed a Matthew effect in reading rate and the perceptual span, respectively. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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