Optimal viewing position effects in reading Finnish

The present study examined effects of the initial landing position in words on eye behavior during reading of long and short Finnish compound words. The study replicated OVP and IOVP effects previously found in French, German and English - languages structurally distinct from Finnish, suggesting that the effects generalize across structurally different alphabetic languages. The results are consistent with the view that the landing position effects appear at the prelexical stage of word processing, as landing position effects were not modulated by word frequency. Moreover, the OVP effects are in line with a visuomotor explanation making recourse to visual acuity constraints.

► Optimal viewing position effects were obtained in reading Finnish compound words. ► The Single Fixation Inverted Optimal Viewing Position effect was also observed. ► The effects are pre-lexical in nature as they are not affected by word frequency.