Distraction by deviant sounds during reading: An eye-movement study

Authors: Vasilev, M.R., Parmentier, F.B.R., Angele, B. and Kirkby, J.A.

Journal: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Volume: 72

Issue: 7

Pages: 1863-1875

eISSN: 1747-0226

ISSN: 1747-0218

DOI: 10.1177/1747021818820816

Abstract:

Oddball studies have shown that sounds unexpectedly deviating from an otherwise repeated sequence capture attention away from the task at hand. While such distraction is typically regarded as potentially important in everyday life, previous work has so far not examined how deviant sounds affect performance on more complex daily tasks. In this study, we developed a new method to examine whether deviant sounds can disrupt reading performance by recording participants’ eye movements. Participants read single sentences in silence and while listening to task-irrelevant sounds. In the latter condition, a 50-ms sound was played contingent on the fixation of five target words in the sentence. On most occasions, the same tone was presented (standard sound), whereas on rare and unexpected occasions it was replaced by white noise (deviant sound). The deviant sound resulted in significantly longer fixation durations on the target words relative to the standard sound. A time-course analysis showed that the deviant sound began to affect fixation durations around 180 ms after fixation onset. Furthermore, deviance distraction was not modulated by the lexical frequency of target words. In summary, fixation durations on the target words were longer immediately after the presentation of the deviant sound, but there was no evidence that it interfered with the lexical processing of these words. The present results are in line with the recent proposition that deviant sounds yield a temporary motor suppression and suggest that deviant sounds likely inhibit the programming of the next saccade.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31661/

Source: Scopus

Distraction by deviant sounds during reading: An eye-movement study.

Authors: Vasilev, M.R., Parmentier, F.B., Angele, B. and Kirkby, J.A.

Journal: Q J Exp Psychol (Hove)

Volume: 72

Issue: 7

Pages: 1863-1875

eISSN: 1747-0226

DOI: 10.1177/1747021818820816

Abstract:

Oddball studies have shown that sounds unexpectedly deviating from an otherwise repeated sequence capture attention away from the task at hand. While such distraction is typically regarded as potentially important in everyday life, previous work has so far not examined how deviant sounds affect performance on more complex daily tasks. In this study, we developed a new method to examine whether deviant sounds can disrupt reading performance by recording participants' eye movements. Participants read single sentences in silence and while listening to task-irrelevant sounds. In the latter condition, a 50-ms sound was played contingent on the fixation of five target words in the sentence. On most occasions, the same tone was presented (standard sound), whereas on rare and unexpected occasions it was replaced by white noise (deviant sound). The deviant sound resulted in significantly longer fixation durations on the target words relative to the standard sound. A time-course analysis showed that the deviant sound began to affect fixation durations around 180 ms after fixation onset. Furthermore, deviance distraction was not modulated by the lexical frequency of target words. In summary, fixation durations on the target words were longer immediately after the presentation of the deviant sound, but there was no evidence that it interfered with the lexical processing of these words. The present results are in line with the recent proposition that deviant sounds yield a temporary motor suppression and suggest that deviant sounds likely inhibit the programming of the next saccade.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31661/

Source: PubMed

Distraction by deviant sounds during reading: An eye-movement study

Authors: Vasilev, M.R., Parmentier, F.B.R., Angele, B. and Kirkby, J.A.

Journal: QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Volume: 72

Issue: 7

Pages: 1863-1875

eISSN: 1747-0226

ISSN: 1747-0218

DOI: 10.1177/1747021818820816

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31661/

Source: Web of Science (Lite)

Distraction by deviant sounds during reading: An eye-movement study

Authors: Vasilev, M., Parmentier, F.B.R., Angele, B. and Kirkby, J.

Journal: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Publisher: Sage

Abstract:

Oddball studies have shown that sounds unexpectedly deviating from an otherwise repeated sequence capture attention away from the task at hand. While such distraction is typically regarded as potentially important in everyday life, previous work has so far not examined how deviant sounds affect performance on more complex daily tasks. In this study, we developed a new method to examine whether deviant sounds can disrupt reading performance by recording participants’ eye-movements. Participants read single sentences in silence and while listening to task-irrelevant sounds. In the latter condition, a 50-ms sound was played contingent on the fixation of five target words in the sentence. On most occasions, the same tone was presented (standard sound), while on rare and unexpected occasions it was replaced by white noise (deviant sound). The deviant sound resulted in significantly longer fixation durations on the target words relative to the standard sound. A time course analysis showed that the deviant sound began to affect fixation durations around 180 ms after fixation onset. Furthermore, deviance distraction was not modulated by the lexical frequency of target words. In summary, fixation durations on the target words were longer immediately after the presentation of the deviant sound, but there was no evidence that it interfered with the lexical processing of these words. The present results are in line with the recent proposition that deviant sounds yield a temporary motor suppression and suggest that deviant sounds likely inhibit the programming of the next saccade.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31661/

Source: Manual

Distraction by deviant sounds during reading: An eye-movement study.

Authors: Vasilev, M.R., Parmentier, F.B., Angele, B. and Kirkby, J.A.

Journal: Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)

Volume: 72

Issue: 7

Pages: 1863-1875

eISSN: 1747-0226

ISSN: 1747-0218

DOI: 10.1177/1747021818820816

Abstract:

Oddball studies have shown that sounds unexpectedly deviating from an otherwise repeated sequence capture attention away from the task at hand. While such distraction is typically regarded as potentially important in everyday life, previous work has so far not examined how deviant sounds affect performance on more complex daily tasks. In this study, we developed a new method to examine whether deviant sounds can disrupt reading performance by recording participants' eye movements. Participants read single sentences in silence and while listening to task-irrelevant sounds. In the latter condition, a 50-ms sound was played contingent on the fixation of five target words in the sentence. On most occasions, the same tone was presented (standard sound), whereas on rare and unexpected occasions it was replaced by white noise (deviant sound). The deviant sound resulted in significantly longer fixation durations on the target words relative to the standard sound. A time-course analysis showed that the deviant sound began to affect fixation durations around 180 ms after fixation onset. Furthermore, deviance distraction was not modulated by the lexical frequency of target words. In summary, fixation durations on the target words were longer immediately after the presentation of the deviant sound, but there was no evidence that it interfered with the lexical processing of these words. The present results are in line with the recent proposition that deviant sounds yield a temporary motor suppression and suggest that deviant sounds likely inhibit the programming of the next saccade.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31661/

Source: Europe PubMed Central

Distraction by deviant sounds during reading: An eye-movement study.

Authors: Vasilev, M.R., Parmentier, F.B.R., Angele, B. and Kirkby, J.A.

Journal: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (Hove)

Volume: 72

Issue: 7

Pages: 1863-1875

ISSN: 1747-0218

Abstract:

Oddball studies have shown that sounds unexpectedly deviating from an otherwise repeated sequence capture attention away from the task at hand. While such distraction is typically regarded as potentially important in everyday life, previous work has so far not examined how deviant sounds affect performance on more complex daily tasks. In this study, we developed a new method to examine whether deviant sounds can disrupt reading performance by recording participants’ eye movements. Participants read single sentences in silence and while listening to task-irrelevant sounds. In the latter condition, a 50-ms sound was played contingent on the fixation of five target words in the sentence. On most occasions, the same tone was presented (standard sound), whereas on rare and unexpected occasions it was replaced by white noise (deviant sound). The deviant sound resulted in significantly longer fixation durations on the target words relative to the standard sound. A time-course analysis showed that the deviant sound began to affect fixation durations around 180 ms after fixation onset. Furthermore, deviance distraction was not modulated by the lexical frequency of target words. In summary, fixation durations on the target words were longer immediately after the presentation of the deviant sound, but there was no evidence that it interfered with the lexical processing of these words. The present results are in line with the recent proposition that deviant sounds yield a temporary motor suppression and suggest that deviant sounds likely inhibit the programming of the next saccade.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31661/

Source: BURO EPrints