Summary of Three Possible Cognitive Mechanisms Governing Visual Processing During Temporally Controlled Music Reading, and Their Associated Eye-Time Span and First-Pass Fixation Time Effects
| Cognitive mechanism . | Eye-Time Span (ETS) . | First-Pass Fixation Time (FPFT) . |
|---|---|---|
| Symbol comprehension | – | Complexity of a target symbol increases FPFT at the target symbol. The effect might be mediated by the relative complexity of surrounding symbols (Penttinen & Huovinen 2011; see also Kinsler & Carpenter, 1995). |
| Visual anticipation | Complexity of target symbol and/or complexity of symbols after the target symbol increases the ETS at the target symbol (Chitalkina et al., 2021; Huovinen et al., 2018). | – |
| Symbol performance demands | Complexity of note symbols before a target symbol decreases ETS at the target symbol (see Penttinen et al. 2015 for a related eye-hand span finding). | Complexity of symbols before a target symbol increases FPFT on the target symbol (Chitalkina et al., 2021); but note a reported contrary finding (Hadley et al., 2018). |
| Cognitive mechanism . | Eye-Time Span (ETS) . | First-Pass Fixation Time (FPFT) . |
|---|---|---|
| Symbol comprehension | – | Complexity of a target symbol increases FPFT at the target symbol. The effect might be mediated by the relative complexity of surrounding symbols (Penttinen & Huovinen 2011; see also Kinsler & Carpenter, 1995). |
| Visual anticipation | Complexity of target symbol and/or complexity of symbols after the target symbol increases the ETS at the target symbol (Chitalkina et al., 2021; Huovinen et al., 2018). | – |
| Symbol performance demands | Complexity of note symbols before a target symbol decreases ETS at the target symbol (see Penttinen et al. 2015 for a related eye-hand span finding). | Complexity of symbols before a target symbol increases FPFT on the target symbol (Chitalkina et al., 2021); but note a reported contrary finding (Hadley et al., 2018). |