Lexical ambiguity resolution in good and poor comprehenders: An eye fixation and self-paced reading study in primary school children.

To investigate the use of context and monitoring of comprehension in lexical ambiguity resolution in children, the authors asked 10- to 12-year-old good and poor comprehenders to read sentences consisting of 2 clauses, 1 containing the ambiguous word and the other the disambiguating information. The order of the clauses was reversed so that disambiguating information either preceded or followed the ambiguous word. Context use and comprehension monitoring were examined by measuring eye fixations (Experiment 1) and self-paced reading times (Experiment 2) on the ambiguous word and disambiguating region. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 showed that poor comprehenders made use of prior context to facilitate lexical ambiguity resolution as effectively as good comprehenders but that they monitored their comprehension less effectively than good comprehenders. Good comprehenders corrected an initial interpretation error on an ambiguous word and restored comprehension once they encountered the disambiguating region. Poor comprehenders failed to deal with this type of comprehension failure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Morphological awareness: A key to understanding poor reading comprehension in English.

This longitudinal study examined the performance of poor comprehenders on several reading-related abilities in the late elementary school years. We identified 3 groups of readers in Grade 5 who were matched on word reading accuracy and speed, nonverbal cognitive ability, and age: unexpected poor comprehenders, expected average comprehenders, and unexpected good comprehenders. We compared these groups in Grade 5 and, retrospectively, in Grade 3. The 3 groups performed similarly on phonological awareness, naming speed, and orthographic processing tasks but differed in morphological awareness, even when vocabulary was controlled statistically. Unexpected poor comprehenders performed more poorly than expected average comprehenders in morphological derivation at Grade 5 but not in Grade 3; in contrast, expected average comprehenders performed more poorly than unexpected good comprehenders at Grade 3, but these groups did not differ in Grade 5. Our findings suggest that poor morphological awareness contributes to reading comprehension difficulties and that children with different reading comprehension profiles may learn morphology at different rates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Event perception: A mind-brain perspective.

People perceive and conceive of activity in terms of discrete events. Here the authors propose a theory according to which the perception of boundaries between events arises from ongoing perceptual processing and regulates attention and memory. Perceptual systems continuously make predictions about what will happen next. When transient errors in predictions arise, an event boundary is perceived. According to the theory, the perception of events depends on both sensory cues and knowledge structures that represent previously learned information about event parts and inferences about actors' goals and plans. Neurological and neurophysiological data suggest that representations of events may be implemented by structures in the lateral prefrontal cortex and that perceptual prediction error is calculated and evaluated by a processing pathway, including the anterior cingulate cortex and subcortical neuromodulatory systems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mechanisms of suppression and enhancement in comprehension.

The goal of comprehension is to build coherent mental representations or structures. These structures represent clauses, sentences, paragraphs, passages, and other meaningful units. Thus, comprehending a clause requires building a mental structure to represent what that clause is about; comprehending a sentence requires building a mental structure to represent what that sentence is about; comprehending a passage requires building a mental structure to represent what that passage is about. In Gernsbacher (1990), I described a simple framework for understanding how comprehenders build mental structures during comprehension. I call this framework, the Structure Building Framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences for self-regulating task-oriented reading activities.

The goal of this study is to analyze the self-regulation processes present in task-oriented reading activities. In the 1st experiment, we examined the following self-regulation processes in the context of answering questions about an available text: (a) monitoring the comprehension of the question, (b) self-regulating the search process, and (c) monitoring the decision to search. Skilled and less skilled comprehenders from 7th and 8th grades read 2 texts and answered 16 questions while all their actions were recorded on a computer. We hypothesized that skilled comprehenders would differ from less skilled comprehenders on the 1st 2 processes on the basis of their general comprehension skills but that their superiority in the 3rd process would be based on specific characteristics of the interaction between the reader and the text. The results support our hypotheses. In the 2nd experiment, we hypothesized that monitoring the decision to search would be equivalent to judgments of learning (JOLs). Eighth graders made JOLs before answering every question, and then they decided whether to search the text. Our hypothesis was confirmed. Our study reveals that task-oriented reading places specific demands on readers related to metacognitive monitoring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal References and Temporal Relations in Sentence Comprehension.

The author investigated the interpretation of temporal references during comprehension of sentences containing a main and subordinate clause. Experiments 1 and 2 examined state and event subordinate clauses, respectively, and showed that subordinate temporal references overlapping with or close to the time of the main clause event were read faster than nonoverlapping distant references. Experiment 3 examined temporal references in nonsubordinate main clauses and confirmed that temporal relations between main and subordinate clauses were established on-line in the previous experiments. Experiment 4 independently manipulated temporal overlap and distance and suggested that event and state clauses are processed according to distinct temporal parameters. The results are explained by the contingency relations that events and states establish with other discourse events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A theory of reading: From eye fixations to comprehension.

Presents a model of reading comprehension that accounts for the allocation of eye fixations of 14 college students reading scientific passages. The model deals with processing at the level of words, clauses, and text units. Readers made longer pauses at points where processing loads were greater. Greater loads occurred while readers were accessing infrequent words, integrating information from important clauses, and making inferences at the ends of sentences. The model accounts for the gaze duration on each word of text as a function of the involvement of the various levels of processing. The model is embedded in a theoretical framework capable of accommodating the flexibility of reading. (70 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age, speed of processing, and working memory on comprehension of sentences with relative clauses.

Two hundred participants, 50 in each of four age ranges (19–29, 30–49, 50–69, 70–90) were tested for working memory, speed of processing, and the processing of sentences with relative clauses. In Experiment 1, participants read four sentence types (cleft subject, cleft object, subject-subject, subject-object) in a word-by-word, non-cumulative, self-paced reading task and made speeded plausibility judgments about them. In Experiment 2, participants read two types of sentences, one of which contained a doubly center embedded relative clause. Older participants' comprehension was less accurate and there was age-related slowing of online processing times in all but the simplest sentences, which increased in syntactically complex sentences in Experiment 1. This pattern suggests an age-related decrease in the efficiency of parsing and interpretation. Slower speed of processing and lower working memory were associated with longer online processing times only in Experiment 2, suggesting that task-related operations are related to general speed of processing and working memory. Lower working memory was not associated with longer reading times in more complex sentences, consistent with the view that general working memory is not critically involved in online syntactic processing. Longer online processing at the most demanding point in the most demanding sentence was associated with better comprehension, indicating that it reflects effective processing under some certain circumstances. However, the poorer comprehension performance of older individuals indicates that their slower online processing reflects inefficient processing even at these points. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensitivity to syntactic and semantic cues in good and poor comprehenders.

Fourth graders ( N = 48) who were equivalent on word recognition skills, but differed in comprehension ability, read sentences manipulated at the verb position to determine whether sensitivity to syntactic and semantic cues differs between good and poor comprehenders. Data in the form of oral reading errors at the verb position support the hypothesis that poor comprehenders are not affected by the disruptive effect of syntactic and semantic violations, while good comprehenders exhibit an increasing number of errors across semantic and syntactic/semantic violations. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in contextual facilitation: evidence from dyslexia and poor reading comprehension

Ninety-two 7- to 10-year-old children read words presented in isolation or following a spoken sentence context. In absolute terms, poor readers showed more contextual facilitation than good readers. However, when the relative benefit of context was assessed, this was greater for children with better reading skills, and comprehension was a better predictor of contextual facilitation than decoding. Study 2 compared the performance of dyslexics with that of reading-age matched poor comprehenders and normal readers. The dyslexics showed greater contextual facilitation than the normal readers who, in turn, showed more priming than poor comprehenders. The results show that dyslexic children use context to compensate for poor decoding skills, whereas children with poor reading comprehension skills fail to benefit from context as much as normal readers.     

Relationship between single word decoding and reading comprehension skill.

Conducted a study with 64 3rd and 5th graders from a predominantly White, working-class neighborhood. Ss classified as skilled and less skilled in reading comprehension, on the basis of their scores on the Reading Subtest of the Metropolitan Achievement Test, differed in vocalization latencies to single printed words. Overall, vocalization latencies were shorter for the skilled group than the less skilled group, and there was an interaction between word type and comprehension skill. Comprehension groups showed large vocalization latency differences for pseudowords and for low frequency English words but smaller differences for high frequency English words. Knowledge of word meanings may be a less significant factor in vocalization latency for the skilled group than for the unskilled group. It is suggested that at least some unskilled comprehenders may have failed to develop automatic decoding skills and that this failure may lead to diminished comprehension skills sharing a common processing capacity with nonautomatic decoding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual representation as a mechanism of lexical ambiguity resolution: An investigation of span and processing time.

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated the ability of high- and low-span comprehenders to construe subtle shades of meaning through perceptual representation. High- and low-span comprehenders responded to pictures that either matched or mismatched a target object's shape as implied by the preceding sentence context. At 750 ms after hearing the sentence describing the target object, both high- and low-span comprehenders had activated a contextually appropriate perceptual representation of the target object. However, only high-span comprehenders had perceptually represented the contextually appropriate meaning immediately upon hearing the sentence, whereas low-span comprehenders required more processing time before the perceptual representation was activated. The results are interpreted in a framework of co-occurring lexical representations and perceptual-motor representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships of three components of reading fluency to reading comprehension.

This study examined the relationships of 3 levels of reading fluency--the individual word, the syntactic unit, and the whole passage--to reading comprehension among 278 5th graders heterogeneous in reading ability. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that reading fluency at each level related uniquely to performance on a standardized reading comprehension test in a model including inferencing skill and background knowledge. The study supports an automaticity effect for word recognition speed and an automaticity-like effect related to syntactic processing skill. In addition, hierarchical regressions using longitudinal data suggest that fluency and reading comprehension have a bidirectional relationship. The discussion emphasizes the theoretical expansion of reading fluency to 3 levels of cognitive processes and the relations of these processes to reading comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of genre expectations on text comprehension.

This article investigates whether expectations about discourse genre influence the process and products of text comprehension. Ss read texts either with a literary story or with a news story as the purported genre. Subsequently, they verified statements pertaining to the texts. Two experiments demonstrated that Ss reading under a literary perspective had longer reading times, better memory for surface information, and a poorer memory for situational information than those reading under a news perspective. Regression analyses of reading times produced findings that were consistent with the memory data. The results support the notion that readers differentially allocate their processing resources according to their expectations about the genre of a text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in the relationship between reading comprehension and hemispheric alpha patterns: An EEG study.

Boys 6–8 and 10–12 years of age read short passages at their instructional level and were subsequently asked questions on these passages. EEG measures were obtained during silent reading of each passage. There were age differences in the relationship between hemisphere activation during silent reading and reading comprehension. Left-hemispheric activation was significantly associated with comprehension for the younger children. Bilateral processing was related to comprehension for the older children. These findings, integrated with other relevant findings, suggest a developmental difference in the use of hemispheric-mediated processes during reading acquisition. During beginning reading, children use simpler and fewer strategies, and (at any given point in time) rely more on the processing of one hemisphere. The particular hemisphere that any given child relies on depends on the strategy used. During a later stage of reading acquisition, children use a more dynamic flow of complex strategies, which involves greater interhemispheric integration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linguistic Knowledge, Processing Speed, and Metacognitive Knowledge in First- and Second-Language Reading Comprehension: A Componential Analysis.

The authors report results of a study into the role of components of first-language (L1; Dutch) and second-language (L2; English) reading comprehension. Differences in the contributions of components of L1 and L2 reading comprehension are analyzed, in particular processing speed in L1 and L2. Findings indicate that regression weights of the L1 and L2 components are different. Although correlations between most processing speed components and reading comprehension are substantial, there are no unique contributions to the explanation of either L1 or L2 reading comprehension when linguistic and metacognitive knowledge are accounted for. In addition, L1 reading comprehension is shown to have a large contribution to L2 reading comprehension, supporting theories of L1-L2 transfer of reading skills. Results are discussed from a developmental perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of sublexical processing in reading Chinese characters.

The nature of sublexical processing in reading complex (or compound) Chinese characters was investigated in 3 printed naming experiments using native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. In Experiments 1 and 2, facilitatory priming effects were observed for target characters, which were semantically related to the phonetic radicals embedded in complex characters but not to the complex characters themselves. In Experiment 3, the presence of semantic primes, which were related to the phonetic radicals embedded in the complex targets but not to the targets themselves, was found to increase the naming latencies to the targets. It is argued that sublexical processing in reading Chinese is both a phonological and a semantic event. There are no fundamental differences between sublexical processing of phonetic radicals and lexical processing of simple and complex characters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)