Mislocated fixations can account for parafoveal-on-foveal effects in eye movements during reading

Contrasting predictions of serial and parallel views on the processing of foveal and parafoveal information during reading were tested. A high-frequency adjective (young) was followed by either a high-frequency word_n (child) or a low-frequency word_n (tenor), which in turn was followed by either a correct (performing) or an orthographic illegal word_{n + 1} (pxvforming) as a parafoveal preview. A limited parafoveal-on-foveal effect was observed: There were inflated fixation times on word_n when the preview of word_{n + 1} was orthographically illegal. However, this parafoveal-on-foveal effect was (a) independent of the frequency of word_n, (b) restricted to those instances when the eyes were very close to word_{n + 1}, and (c) associated with relatively long prior saccades. These observations are all compatible with a mislocated fixation account in which parafoveal-on-foveal effects result from saccadic undershoots of word_{n + 1} and with a serial model of eye movement control during reading.