EYE-MOVEMENT RESEARCH ON THE PROPOSITIONAL STRUCTURE OF SHORT TEXTS

The present paper describes the application of computer-based programs to the evaluation of eye movements during reading of short texts. These programs operate in background, that is, after an experimental session is completed and the raw data are collected on magnetic tape. The first program reduces the raw data into a sequence of fixation locations and durations, eye movements, and eye blinks. A second program utilizes calibration coordinates and line-of-text information to transform the reduced data into a standard grid format. Fixation order, locations, and durations for each line of text read are output with respect to the line of text. The final program summarizes fixation locations, frequencies, and durations with respect to analyses of the texts into levels within a hierarchy of propositions in the text base (Kintsch, 1974). © 1979 Psychonomic Society, Inc.