Data from: Semantic Preview Benefit in Reading English: The Effect of Initial Letter Capitalization
Data
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Arrangement | The Data component contains the raw eye movement data from the experiment, and may also contain data processing scripts, processed data, interim files, and analysis scripts. |
Materials
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Arrangement | The Materials component contains the script used to run the experiment, and may contain other files pertaining to the sentences or target words. |
- Collection
- Cite This Work
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Rayner, Keith; Schotter, Elizabeth R. (2015). Data from: Semantic preview benefit in reading English: The effect of initial letter capitalization. In Keith Rayner Eye Movements in Reading Data Collection. UC San Diego Library Digital Collections. https://doi.org/10.6075/J00Z715D
- Description
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Publication abstract:
A major controversy in reading research is whether semantic information is obtained from the word to the right of the currently fixated word (word n+1). Although most evidence has been negative in English, semantic preview benefit has been observed for readers of Chinese and German. In the present experiment, we investigated whether the discrepancy between English and German may be attributable to a difference in visual properties of the orthography: the first letter of a noun is always capitalized in German, but is only occasionally capitalized in English. This visually salient property may draw greater attention to the word during parafoveal preview and thus increase preview benefit generally (and lead to a greater opportunity for semantic preview benefit). We used English target nouns that can either be capitalized (e.g., We went to the critically acclaimed Ballet of Paris while on vacation.) or not (e.g., We went to the critically acclaimed ballet that was showing in Paris.) and manipulated the capitalization of the preview accordingly, to determine whether capitalization modulates preview benefit in English. The gaze-contingent boundary paradigm was used with identical, semantically related, and unrelated pre- views. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found numerically larger preview benefits when the preview/ target was capitalized than when it was lowercase. Crucially, semantic preview benefit was not observed when the preview/target word was not capitalized, but was observed when the preview/target word was capitalized.
Subject population:
Adults - Scope And Content
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This package contains data for a gaze-contingent display change experiment with three preview conditions (identical, semantically related, unrelated) for words which either had the first letter capitalized or not capitalized. The raw data are in the ASC sub-directory, interim files are in the DA1 sub-directory, and the final processed data are in the csv file. Files that record conversion from ASC to DA1 files and from DA1 to files that are were merged into the csv file are the sum and trc files, respectively. The ‘hook’ file (.txt) records information about the timing of and eye position around display changes. The ‘quest’ (.txt) records information about the responses to comprehension questions. The script file was used to run the experiment and the cnt file codes the locations of the regions of interest for each stimulus in each condition marked in character position. The “stims” (.txt) file lists the sentences, previews, and cloze values for previews and targets. See the Guide (Related Resource link, below) for details on some of the different types of files and column definitions that are contained in the data collection.
- Creation Date
- 2014
- Date Issued
- 2015
- Author
- Principal Investigator
- Technical Details
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Presentation software: EyeTrack_0_7_10h; Font: 14pt Courier New (11 horizontal pixels per character); Viewing distance: 60 cm; Screen resolution: 1024 x 768; Cut-off for short fixations: 80 ms; Cut-off for long fixations: 800 ms; Fixations within n characters merged: 1 character; Software used for data processing: TimDrop.pl, EyeDry
- Funding
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NIH HD065829, NIH DC000041
- Topics
Format
View formats within this collection
- Language
- English
- Identifier
- Related Resources
- Rayner, K., & Schotter, E.R. (2014). Semantic preview benefit in reading English: The effect of initial letter capitalization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40, 1617-1628. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036763
- EyeDry: https://blogs.umass.edu/eyelab/software/
- Presentation Software: https://blogs.umass.edu/eyelab/software/
- TimDrop.pl: https://sites.google.com/site/drtimothyjslattery/home/software/
- Abbott, Matthew J. (2015). Guide to Keith Rayner Eye Movements in Reading Data Collection. In Keith Rayner Eye Movements in Reading Data Collection. UC San Diego Library Digital Collections. https://doi.org/10.6075/J0FF3QPR
Primary associated publication
Software
Described by
- License
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
- Rights Holder
- UC Regents
- Copyright
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Under copyright (US)
Use: This work is available from the UC San Diego Library. This digital copy of the work is intended to support research, teaching, and private study.
Constraint(s) on Use: This work is protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Use of this work beyond that allowed by "fair use" or any license applied to this work requires written permission of the copyright holder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and any use and distribution of this work rests exclusively with the user and not the UC San Diego Library. Inquiries can be made to the UC San Diego Library program having custody of the work.
- Digital Object Made Available By
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Research Data Curation Program, UC San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0175 (https://lib.ucsd.edu/rdcp)
- Last Modified
2023-06-01