Eye-Fixation Patterns During Reading Confirm Theories of Language Comprehension

Eye-movement patterns during reading are consistent with proposition-byproposition models of speech comprehension. (1) Fixation times ore least offected by word length ot ends of clauses: this confirms the theory based on the study of speech comprehension that, at such points, attention is directed inward to text integration. (2) Fixotion time for words ot the end of clauses is longer for canonical sequences which conform to the pattern, “N-V-N=octoroctian-object”; this confirms the view that complete semantic integration of such sequences is routinely delayed until their completion. A two-variable model based on principles of exhoustive visual scorch ond speech comprehension accounts for 80% of the fixotion durotions in a sample parograph from Just and Carpenter (1980) and Thibodeou, Just ond Carpenter (1982). This comprehension-based model compares favorably with their models constructed within a production-system framework. This result clarifies the relotianship between reading and listening.