Relation between Reading Speed, Eye Movements, and Line Length in Japanese Electronic Text Reader

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  • 日本語リーダーにおける読み速度と眼球運動の行長依存性に基づく最適行長の検討

Abstract

We investigated the effect of line length on reading speed and eye movement in Japanese reader with different line lengths of 5 to 40 character/line. The reading speed increased with increasing line length and tended to saturate at 20 character/line and above. The result is explained by a trade-off between fixation duration, forward saccade length, number of regressions, and number of undershoots in return sweep. At longer line lengths, the shorter fixation duration and the longer forward saccade length contribute to higher speed of reading, while the higher frequency of regression and the higher frequency of undershoot in return sweep contribute to lower speed of reading. The optimal line length which appears to be the best compromise between these factors is about 20 to 29 character/line.

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