A Theory of Eye Position Control in Reading
{'Code': '04040500', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'BCS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Jasmine Young', 'PO_EMAI': 'jyoung@nsf.gov', 'PO_PHON': '7032924833'}
One way to study people's mental processes as they read or                      examine pictures, charts, or maps is to monitor their eye                       movements and see where they look, in what order, and for how                   long.  However, interpretation of the pattern of eye movements                  requires a theoretical framework that describes how the eyes                    respond to mental activities.  This research builds on the                      beginnings of such a theory, constructed by McConkie and his                    associates as a consequence of their recent research.  The                      theory, so far, consists of a description of where the eyes are                 sent during reading and perhaps during other tasks.  This                       description assumes that higher cognitive processes select an                   object (in the case of reading, a word) to be the target for the                next eye movement.  The theory then describes four principles                   that operate to determine where the eyes will actually land:                    1.  The center of the selected object serves as a target for the                    eye movement.                                                               2.  There is a systematic error in the eye movement control                         system, called the "saccadic range error," that results in                      the eyes undershooting their target on long saccades and                        overshooting it on short saccades.  This error function is                      quantifiable.                                                               3.  There is also unsystematic error, or random variability, in                     eye movement control.  It produces a normally-distributed                       spread of oculomotor "landing sites."                                       4.  The amount of spread of the landing sites is a non-linear                       increasing function of the saccade length.                                                                                                                  This project will test the theory in a number of ways, seeking to               identify its limits, examining how the parameters of the model                  must be modified in order for it to describe accurately data from               different people and conditions, and determining whether it can                 be applied to tasks other than reading and to displays of                       materials other than text.  Finally, if the theory proves to be                 robust, it will be used to develop an algorithm that will                       indicate, for each eye movement, which word was actually serving                as the target.  Such an algorithm will make future eye movement                 research more powerful, since it will provide a means of                        separating aspects of the data related to higher cognitive                      processes from those that only reflect properties of the                        oculomotor system.  This research will provide a quantitative                   description of one aspect of normal oculomotor functioning, thus                contributing to our understanding of the relation between mental                activity and eye movement control.  This description may                        ultimately be useful clinically as a basis for identifying                      abnormalities in eye movement control.
{'FirstName': 'George', 'LastName': 'McConkie', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'W', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'George W McConkie', 'EmailAddress': 'gmcconk@uiuc.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000423797', 'StartDate': '08/01/1989', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign', 'CityName': 'URBANA', 'ZipCode': '618013620', 'PhoneNumber': '2173332187', 'StreetAddress': '506 S WRIGHT ST', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Illinois', 'StateCode': 'IL', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '13', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'IL13', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'Y8CWNJRCNN91', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '118000', 'Text': 'HUMAN COGNITION & PERCEPTION'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1989&All=true', 'xml': '8900320.xml'}