Reading Speed Decreases for Fast Readers Under Gaze-Contingent Rendering

Gaze-contingent rendering and display could help meet the increasing resolution and frame rate demands of modern displays while reducing the required latency, bandwidth, and power. However, it is still unclear how degradation of the peripheral image impacts behavior, particularly for the important task of reading. We examined changes in reading speed with different levels of peripheral degradation, varying the size of the text, foveal region, and sub-sampling kernel. We found a wide spread of responses across subjects, with the average change in reading speed ranging from -123 words per minute (WPM) to +67 WPM. We did not find significant effects across types of peripheral degradation, but the change in reading speed was significantly inversely correlated with baseline reading speed (r=-0.513, n=17, p=0.0352), indicating that faster readers were more negatively impacted.