Chapter 4: Eye movements: from psycholinguistics to font design

The study of reading has been greatly advanced in the past 40 years by the examination of eye movements recorded during the reading process. Despite the advances made by reading researchers using eye movement recording as a methodology, this research has resulted in relatively few advances in the way text is displayed to readers. That is not to say that textual displays have not undergone significant improvements over this time, only that the improvements were not driven by eye movement research. This disconnect is of particular interest given the applicability that eye movements offer for understanding all aspects of the reading process. The possible reasons for this disconnect between psycholinguistic research and font design will be discussed. Additionally, current psycholinguistic research trends that overlap with potential font design issues will be explored during a review of the eye movement findings.