The Impact of Left to Right Eye Movement on Arab EFL/ESP Learners’ Output？

Though a lot has been said about L2 acquisition and learners’ output, there is still much to be done in terms of research pertaining to the cognitive part of eye movement based on the nature of the target language （TL） within the process of learning. Thus, eye movement according to the nature of L2 can be a challenge that learners might face. Arab EFL, or ESP learners might find it more difficult, taking into consideration the nature of the script of their Arabic language mother tongue （MT） going from right to left, and being a total opposite of all Anglo Saxon scripts （left to right）. The following article tries to focus on the input process of Arab learners while trying to adapt to, or learn English as a foreign language, and find out if the paradox of eye movement which is left to right vs. right to left, （in the case of EFL/ESP learning）, has any impact on these particular learners’ actual output and performance.

Future Directions for Eye Movement Research

It is argued that research on eye movements has now entered a fourth general era. Each of the four eras is briefly reviewed, and research findings related to eye movements during reading, scene perception, and visual search are discussed. Future directions for research in each of these areas and research in other domains involving eye movements are also discussed.

Eye Movements Provide Inhibitory Inputs to the Occipito-Temporal Region

Eye movements play an important role in attention and visual processing. However, the manner in which eye move-ments are involved in object processing is not clear. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of eye movements on object-processing areas in the occipito-temporal region. Eye movements are always accompanied by visual perception;therefore, the effects of eye movements on object-processing areas in which visual object information is sent via eye movements instead of via retinal inputs of visual images must be measured. For this purpose, response to an eye- drawing stimulation in subjects who drew pictures of faces or buildings by their moving eyes under closed-eye condi-tions was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Functional areas in the occipito-temporal region showed negative responses to the eye-drawing stimulation, and the pattern of negative activation maps in the region was almost the same as that of positive activation maps observed after visual image stimulation. Responses in cate-gory-selective area showed category dependency to the eye-drawing stimulation. This suggests that eye movements provide inhibitory inputs to the object-processing areas in the occipito-temporal region, and these inputs may modulate visual inputs to these areas coming through the retina in the visual perception process.

How Effortful Are Interpreters in Translation Related Reading Tasks?:An Eye-Tracking Study

Readingto comprehend the source text is a necessary part in translation process.However,the cognitive processing in various reading tasks related to translation is far from well-understood.The present study investigated interpreters’eye movement behavior in E-C language pair across different reading tasks.The participants are instructed to perform four tasks involving reading for specific purposes.The four tasks are as follows:(1)reading for comprehension(monolingual);(2)reading for summary;(3)reading in preparation for translating;and(4)reading while speaking a translation(sight translating).The results showed that reading purposes have a clear effect on interpreters’eye movement behaviors.By tasks both groups of interpreters spent more task time,more and longer fixations as they dealt with increasingly cognitive-demanding tasks.Across groups student interpreters spend more time,more and longer fixations than do professionals in most of the tasks.The study revealed that the increasing cognitive efforts required by reading is dependent on various reading tasks and translation expertise,which provided tentative implications for understanding and modelling the way interpreters read.The study also provided evidence for the validity of eye-tracking as a methodology in different translation modalities.

Reading Text Under Normal and Disappearing Presentation Conditions

In this article I discuss data from a series of experiments in which readers’ eye movements were recorded as they processed sentences in which each word disappeared or was masked 60ms after fixation onset. We used this paradigm to investigate whether we could induce a gap effect during reading, and how visual and linguistic factors affected eye movements under these conditions. The data showed that no gap effect occurred in our experiment. Overall reading times were the same under normal and disappearing presentation conditions. However, readers did adopt a strategy of making fewer but longer fixations when the text disappeared than when it did not. Additionally, clear frequency effects occurred regardless of whether the text was presented normally or disappeared. This finding indicates that while the visual uptake of information is important, cognitive processes associated with the lexical identification of words are a primary influence on when readers move their eyes during reading. The findings are taken to support the E-Z Reader model of eye movement control.

阅读过程的眼动理论综述

该文介绍了解释阅读过程的主要眼动理论,并对早期的视觉缓冲器加工理论、直接假说和眼-脑假说,聚光灯理论、Morrison的眼动理论模型等眼动理论和新近的战略战术模型和E-Z模型等眼动理论进行了评述。最后,对眼动理论的发展方向进行了展望。

Memory consolidation during sleep and adult hippocampal neurogenesis

In anticipation of the massive burden of neurodegenerative disease within super-aged societies, great efforts have been made to utilize neural stem and progenitor cells for regenerative medicine. The capacity of intrinsic neural stem and progenitor cells to regenerate damaged brain tissue remains unclear, due in part to the lack of knowledge about how these newly born neurons integrate into functional circuitry. As sizable integration of adult-born neurons naturally occurs in the dentate gyrus region of the hippocampus, clarifying the mechanisms of this process could provide insights for applying neural stem and progenitor cells in clinical settings. There is convincing evidence of functional correlations between adult-born neurons and memory consolidation and sleep; therefore, we describe some new advances that were left untouched in our recent review.

Drivers'fixation transfer characteristics in urban tunnels

To improve the safety performance of urban tunnels,the fixation transfer characteristics of drivers with different driving experience levels in urban tunnels were investigated.First,a real vehicle test was performed in an urban tunnel,and the eye movement data of 10 drivers with different driving experience levels were collected using a Dikablis eye-tracking system.Second,the driver fixation range was divided into eight areas of visual interest by using the K-means clustering method,and the fixations in different sections of the tunnel were comparatively analyzed.Finally,on the basis of the divided areas of visual interest,fixation transfer rules and the stationary distribution characteristics of drivers with different driving experience levels on different sections of the tunnel were discussed using Markov theory.Results indicate that drivers'probability of repeated fixation is greater and that the efficiency of visual search is lower at internal sections of tunnels than in external sections.Drivers obtain information mainly from the straight upper front and straight lower front areas,and the probabilities of fixation points in these two areas at the threshold and exit sections are significantly higher than those in other sections.Relative to experienced drivers,novice drivers allocate little attention to the straight upper front area and rear-view mirrors.Hence,they have weak fixation when looking forward,and they lack experience in obtaining information on rear-approaching vehicles and controlling speed.

Visual neuroscience research in China

Historically,vision research in China was one of a few distinct research programs within the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS).With improved funding opportunities and research environment in neuroscience,vision research at several research institutes within the academy has made significant progress not only in the quantity of publications,but also in the quality of the work.Based on our own expertise,this review is mainly focused on the findings that have advanced the understanding of visual processing in the central visual pathway,visual perceptual learning,visual development and eye diseases.