Integration of oculomotor and cognitive-dynamical modeling of eye-movement control during reading

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ralf Engbert
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2015 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 290087126

During the last 15 years, research on the control of eye movements in reading was driven by mathematical models of word recognition and attention allocation. On the level of oculomotor control, which determines the precise planning of fixation positions within words, advances were obtained by Bayesian models of sensorimotor integration, a framework theory of movement control (Körding & Wolpert, 2004). In this proposal, we propose to develop an integrated model based on the cognitive-dynamical SWIFT model of word selection (Engbert et al., 2005) and a process-oriented oculomotor model of word targeting (Krügel & Engbert, 2014). With such a model, quantitative predictions on the interaction of oculomotor processes and ongoing cognition will be possible for the first time. In the work program, which is divided into equally weighted theoretical and experimental parts, we will use reading experiments on mirror-reversed/inverted texts that permit the test of our assumption for the process-oriented integration of both model components. Since experimental results rely on gaze-contingent experimentation, most importantly the boundary technique (Rayner, 1975), we propose to run a series of corresponding experimental model tests.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants