Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The present proposal is a request for equipment support for a five-year NSERC Discovery research program entitled ""Individual differences in visual recognition of morphologically complex words"". A key part of this program is a series of experiments on reading of words with complex structure (""hope+ful""; ""walk+s"") in sentence contexts. We propose to use eye-tracking, or registration of participants' eye-movements during reading, as the state-of-the-art experimental technique in reading research. As has been widely demonstrated, temporal and spatial characteristics of eye-movements are indicative of the difficulty of cognitive processing of read materials. With the recorded eye-movements as dependent variables, we will be able to establish the role that individual cognitive (verbal and non-verbal) skills play in the processing of morphology. The success of the proposed program critically depends on the availability of an eye-tracker, an infrared video-based system for tracking eye-movements combined with hyper-acuity image processing. To ensure the completion of the experimental component, I request funding for the state-of-the-art eye-tracker EyeLink 1000 (SR Research, Kanata, ON) and supplementary applications. This device allows for the observation of reading in a natural context without interfering with reading pace: it also provides high-accuracy, high-resolution, low-variability measurements of eye-movements. In addition to enabling the present program, the EyeLink 1000 eye-tracker will serve as the core of the newly organized McMaster Reading Lab that provides undergraduate and graduate-level instruction in visual language processing, data analysis and eye-tracking and other behavioural research methodologies. The laboratory will supply empirical data for dissertations and theses, and support the training of the undergraduate and graduate highly-qualified personnel in the eye-tracking techniques that are highly in demand in academic, clinical and industrial settings. It will also support planned educational research on high-school and adult dyslexics, and departmental, national and international collaborative projects.