STUDY ON READING OF CHINESE TEXTS WITHOUT EYE MOVEMENTS
无眼动条件下中文阅读的研究

Eye movements were recorded and analyzed when subjects read Chinese texts displayed in different modes. It was found that, when reading materials displayed in a fixed window on a computer screen so that there was little if any eye movements, reading rate was higher than that of normal reading, in which eye movements were indispensable. The comparison of reading rate in fixed window display mode and moving window display mode showed that it was not the compulsory effect of the display mode, but the nonexistence of eye movements that determined the superiority of reading without eye movements. Based on these results, it was concluded that in conditions where eye movements are needed, besides saccadic suppression, the higher central system must calculate and control the eye movements, which affects its capacity to process the text information. When the eye movements are bypassed, the reading rate is limited by the decoding rate of high central level, not by visual input system. It was also showed that availability of parafoveal information was not critical in reading in such conditions.