JEP:HPP, in press Binocular fixation disparity in single word displays

It has been claimed that, when a word is presented in isolation, recognition is affected by the precise location at which the word is fixated. However, this putative role for fixation location has yet to be reconciled with the finding from reading research that fixations made by each eye are frequently misaligned and so more than one location in a word is often fixated simultaneously. The accuracy and alignment of the two eyes’ fixations during single word processing have never been assessed. Therefore, to investigate this issue, single words (and nonwords) were presented for lexical decision at various locations around a central fixation point. Participants viewed each stimulus binocularly and were required to fixate the fixation point. An eye-tracker recorded the fixation location of each eye. The data revealed that participants often fixated inaccurately and that fixations were frequently misaligned but that this did not affect word recognition. These findings indicate that binocular fixation disparity is pervasive even in single word presentations and a potential source of confound for research investigating the effects of fixation location on word recognition.