97th DOG Annual Meeting 1999
V698
IS READING SPEED INFLUENCED BY A MOVING STIMULUS CLOSE TO THE TEXT ?
D. Schmidt, M. Bach
Background: Moving stimuli often appear during the performance of an every day visual task. Do such stimuli really distract the attention during the task - while reading a text, for instance?
Method: Twenty-six normal subjects with normal visual acuity (21- 60 years old; mean age: 31.9 years) were investigated electronystagmographically while reading a standardized text under identical conditions (lighting, head fixation, reading distance). The subjects were required to read quietly and "normally", i.e. neither too quickly nor too slowly. The text was fixed at eye level, 1 m in front of the subject´s face. A head-rest supported the head. ENG recordings of the eye movements were made with silver/silver chloride electrodes attached bilaterally to the temporal regions of the eyes. Blinks were recorded by vertically attached electrodes. Each subject read 4 pieces of equal length from an unfamiliar Eichendorff text in a randomized order. During the reading of two passages an optokinetic stripe pattern (30º/s) moved close to the text either from right to left or from left to right. In an initial training run and a control condition no optokinetic stimulus was present.
Results: No significant difference in the reading movements or speed resulted from any direction of the optokinetic stripes. The blinks during reading occurred at a similar frequency, independent of the direction of the stimuli.
Conclusions: Moving stimuli close to the text did not influence the pattern of concentrated reading.
Univ.-Augenklinik, Killianstr. 5, D - 79106 Freiburg
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