A cognitive scientist analyzes eye-tracking data from participants reading a novel; if participants exhibit longer fixation durations on specific words, what explains this phenomenon in eye movements?

💡 Explanation

Increased fixation duration reflects higher processing difficulty; because word surprisal indicates the unexpectedness of a word in context, therefore, greater cognitive effort is required to integrate it. Rather than preview benefits or oculomotor range, surprisal directly impacts fixation during reading.

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