Dataset Information

Comprehension in Proficient Readers: The Nature of Individual Variation.

ABSTRACT: Individual-difference research on reading comprehension is challenging because reader characteristics are as correlated with each other as they are with comprehension. This study was conducted to determine which abilities are central to explaining comprehension and which are secondary to other abilities. A battery of psycholinguistic and cognitive tests was administered to community college and university students. Seven constructs were identified: word decoding, working-memory capacity (WMC), general reasoning, verbal fluency, perceptual speed, inhibition, and language experience. Only general reasoning and language experience had direct effects; these two variables accounted for as much variance in comprehension as did the complete set. Direct effects of WMC and decoding were found only when general reasoning and language experience were deleted from the models. The authors question the need to include WMC in our theories of variability in adult reading comprehension and highlight the need to understand precisely how vocabulary facilitates comprehension.

SUBMITTER: Freed EM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5731652 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Comprehension in Proficient Readers: The Nature of Individual Variation.

Freed Erin M EM Hamilton Stephen T ST Long Debra L DL

Journal of memory and language 20170825

Individual-difference research on reading comprehension is challenging because reader characteristics are as correlated with each other as they are with comprehension. This study was conducted to determine which abilities are central to explaining comprehension and which are secondary to other abilities. A battery of psycholinguistic and cognitive tests was administered to community college and university students. Seven constructs were identified: word decoding, working-memory capacity (WMC), g ...[more]

PMID: 29255339

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Project description:People consistently act in ways that harm the environment, even when believing their actions are environmentally friendly. A case in point is a biased judgment termed the negative footprint illusion, which arises when people believe that the addition of "eco-friendly" items (e.g., environmentally certified houses) to conventional items (e.g., standard houses), reduces the total carbon footprint of the whole item-set, whereas the carbon footprint is, in fact, increased because eco-friendly items still contribute to the overall carbon footprint. Previous research suggests this illusion is the manifestation of an "averaging-bias." We present two studies that explore whether people's susceptibility to the negative footprint illusion is associated with individual differences in: (i) environment-specific reasoning dispositions measured in terms of compensatory green beliefs and environmental concerns; or (ii) general analytic reasoning dispositions measured in terms of actively open-minded thinking, avoidance of impulsivity and reflective reasoning (indexed using the Cognitive Reflection Test; CRT). A negative footprint illusion was demonstrated when participants rated the carbon footprint of conventional buildings combined with eco-friendly buildings (Study 1 and 2) and conventional cars combined with eco-friendly cars (Study 2). However, the illusion was not identified in participants' ratings of the carbon footprint of apples (Study 1 and 2). In Studies 1 and 2, environment-specific dispositions were found to be unrelated to the negative footprint illusion. Regarding reflective thinking dispositions, reduced susceptibility to the negative footprint illusion was only associated with actively open-minded thinking measured on a 7-item scale (Study 1) and 17-item scale (Study 2). Our findings provide partial support for the existence of a negative footprint illusion and reveal a role of individual variation in reflective reasoning dispositions in accounting for a limited element of differential susceptibility to this illusion.

Project description:IntroductionThe amount of educational material delivered to pupils and students through digital screens is increasing. This method of delivering educational materials has become even more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic. To be as effective as possible, educational material must be properly designed not only in terms of content, but also in terms of form, e.g., the typeface. The present study investigated the effect of letter shape on readers' feelings of pleasantness during reading, reading fluency, and text comprehension and memorisation.MethodsTo find out whether age influences the effects of typeface shape on reading measures, we divided the participants into a group of less experienced readers (children) and more experienced readers (adults). Both groups read texts in eight different typefaces: four of them were round or in rounded shape, and four were angular or in pointed shape. With an eye-tracker, the reading speed and the number of regressive saccades were recorded as measures of reading fluency and changes in pupil size as an indicator of emotional response. After reading each text, the participants rated the pleasantness of the typeface, and their comprehension and memorisation of texts were checked by asking two questions about the text content.ResultsWe found that compared to angular letters or letters in pointed shape, round letters or letters in round shape created more pleasant feelings for readers and lead to a faster reading speed. Children, as expected, read more slowly due to less reading experiences, but, interestingly, had a similar number of regressive saccades and did not comprehend or remember the text worse than university students.DiscussionWe concluded that softer typefaces of rounder shapes should be used in educational materials, as they make the reading process easier and thus support the learning process better for both younger and adult readers. The results of our study also showed that a comparison of findings of different studies may depend on the differences among the used letter shapes.

Dataset Information

Comprehension in Proficient Readers: The Nature of Individual Variation.

Publications

Comprehension in Proficient Readers: The Nature of Individual Variation.

Similar Datasets

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