Effect of font and text familiarity on eye fixation and revisits during purposeful reading: Evidence from eye tracking monitor device

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Font and text-familiarity on two principal indices of eye movements i.e. fixation and revisites while reading texts purposefully and non-purposefully. This study was a quasi experimental one and its population consisted of Shahid Beheshti University undergraduate female students of psychology in the 2012-13 academic year which estimated to be 500 people. Forty five students were selected using convenience sampling and were devided to two groups of purposeful and non-purposeful reading. Stimuli were 4 various texts (familiar text in lotus, familiar text in khodkar, unfamiliar text in lotus, unfamiliar text in khodkar) and eye-tracking device (SMI-RED) was used to measure eye movements. Data were analyzed by mixed ANOVA. Findings showed that all of the main effects were significant. That is, fixation count was more for purposeful reading group and subjects in general, fixated more on unfamiliar texts as well as texts with lotus font. Moreover, the interactive effect of group and font was significant. The findings of this study can be used in the effective graphical arrangement of educational texts, especially in virtual settings.