Humans read incredibly quickly, fixating a word for only a quarter of a second before moving their eyes. But neural data suggests it takes two–four times longer than a single fixation to fully recognize and interpret a word in context, raising the question, “how can the eyes be faster than the brain” (Rayner & Clifton, 2009)? Co-registration of neural and behavioral measures is key in studying neural processes during naturalistic reading, but progress is limited if we treat the two data streams independently, rather than examining the coupling between temporally extended neural effects and eye movement decisions. In this talk, Elizabeth Schotter will discuss prior work from her lab using both univariate analysis of co-registration data (i.e., treating eye movement behavior and neural data as independent outcomes), as well as emerging work using behavior-contingent analysis (BCA) to reveal how language-related brain processes (e.g., N400, LPC) are only observed when the reader exhibits specific behaviors (e.g., skipping, regressions). She will also discuss the theoretical implications of these findings, which suggest that saccade decisions are triggered at an intermediate point of lexical processing, followed by complete recognition and integration of a word into its context. This account can resolve the apparent paradox that the eyes can move through text faster than the brain understands it.