THE USE OF INFORMATION BELOW FIXATION IN READING AND IN VISUAL-SEARCH

Two experiments examined whether or not readers obtain useful informat ion from below the currently fixated line. In Experiment 1, subjects r ead passages of text and the availability of visual information below the line fixated was manipulated using a variant of the moving window technique. Reading was no slower when there was no letter information below the fixated line than when there was full information below the fixated line. However, a condition which made the strings of letters b elow the fixated line less ''wordlike'' caused reading to be slowed do wn by about 6% relative to the other conditions. In Experiment 2, subj ects searched for a target word through passages of text. Subjects occ asionally detected targets below the line they were fixating; however, there was no clear evidence that the availability of information belo w the line made search more efficient. It thus appears that in reading (or in other tasks where words are being identified and the eyes move horizontally along a line of text), little visual information is extr acted below the line of text fixated.