Eye Movements and the Perceptual Span in Older and Younger Readers

The size of the perceptual span (or the span of effective vision) in older readers was examined with the moving window paradigm ( G. W. McConkie & K. Rayner, 1975 ). Two experiments demonstrated that older readers have a smaller and more symmetric span than that of younger readers. These 2 characteristics (smaller and more symmetric span) of older readers may be a consequence of their less efficient processing of nonfoveal information, which results in a riskier reading strategy.