Eye movements when reading disappearing text: The importance of the word to the right of fixation

In a series of experiments, the currently fixated word (word n) and/or the word to the right of fixation (word n + 1) either disappeared or was masked during readers' eye fixations. Consistent with prior research, when only word n disappeared or was masked, there was little disruption to reading. However, when word n + 1 either disappeared or was masked (either at the onset of fixation on word n or after 60 ms), there was considerable disruption to reading. Independent of whether word n and/or word n + 1 disappeared or was masked, there were robust frequency effects on the fixation on word n. These results not only confirm the robust influence of cognitive/linguistic processing on fixation times in reading, but also again confirm the importance of preprocessing the word to the right of fixation for fluent reading. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.