Čtení vlastním tempem: Kritické představení metody

Abstract

Self-paced reading has been a widely used experimental method for study of the processing of sentences and texts. In this paper, we introduce the method to the Czech audience. We summarize its advantages and limitations and provide practical suggestions on stimuli construction and data pro-cessing. We also present different variants of the method, we discuss its ecological validity, and we summarize the experimental evidence showing that reaction times collected in self-paced reading can be linked to processing demands people might experience during reading. Finally, we present three examples of the application of the method: an experiment on agreement attraction in Czech, an experiment on garden-path sentences in Czech and an experiment studying the processing of short discourses in English. We also briefly discuss new trends that connect corpus linguistics with psycholinguistic discourse processing research and lead to the development of reading-time corpora.

Self-paced reading has been a widely used experimental method for study of the processing of sentences and texts. In this paper, we introduce the method to the Czech audience. We summarize its advantages and limitations and provide practical suggestions on stimuli construction and data pro-cessing. We also present different variants of the method, we discuss its ecological validity, and we summarize the experimental evidence showing that reaction times collected in self-paced reading can be linked to processing demands people might experience during reading. Finally, we present three examples of the application of the method: an experiment on agreement attraction in Czech, an experiment on garden-path sentences in Czech and an experiment studying the processing of short discourses in English. We also briefly discuss new trends that connect corpus linguistics with psycholinguistic discourse processing research and lead to the development of reading-time corpora.