On-Line effects of musical environment on text reading: Eye-tracking investigation

This study compares the reading of texts made by musicians or non musicians in a musical environment or silently. Thirty expositive texts were presented with or without spatial layout followed each of two multiple-choice questions. Texts were silently read, either by listening simultaneously a French popular song in its sung version (lyrics and music), or in its instrumental version (only music). The analyses of eye movements shows that a musical environment slows down the reading but it depends on the musical sensibility of the participants, the musicians being less affected than the non-musicians. On the whole text, a sung environment causes a number and fixation durations significantly greater. A local analysis established phrase by phrase allows observing (1) shorter fixation durations with the spatial layout and (2) an inhibitive effect of the sung version, in particular on the first two sentences of the text. Reading is more disrupted by songs because of the attentional interference induced by a linguistic confusion (written text and sung text). This interference affects less musicians. These issues are discussed according to the model of multiple attentional resources of Wickens (2002). (C) 2015 Societe Francaise de Psychologie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.