The influence of connectives on young readers' processing and comprehension of text.

Connectives are cohesive devices that signal the relations between clauses and are critical to the construction of a coherent representation of a text's meaning. The authors investigated young readers' knowledge, processing, and comprehension of temporal, causal, and adversative connectives using offline and online tasks. In a cloze task, 10-year-olds were more accurate than 8-year-olds on temporal and adversative connectives, but both age groups differed from adult levels of performance (Experiment 1). When required to rate the “sense” of 2-clause sentences linked by connectives, 10-year-olds and adults were better at discriminating between clauses linked by appropriate and inappropriate connectives than were 8-year-olds. The 10-year-olds differed from adults only on the temporal connectives (Experiment 2). In contrast, online reading time measures indicated that 8-year-olds' processing of text is influenced by connectives as they read, in much the same way as 10-year-olds'. Both age groups read text more quickly when target 2-clause sentences were linked by an appropriate connective compared with texts in which a connective was neutral (and), inappropriate to the meaning conveyed by the 2 clauses, or not present (Experiments 3 and 4). These findings indicate that although knowledge and comprehension of connectives is still developing in young readers, connectives aid text processing in typically developing readers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of prior knowledge and elaboration in text comprehension and memory: a comparison of self-generated elaboration and text-provided elaboration

Four experiments investigated the interactive effect of text-provided elaborations and prior knowledge on text comprehension and memory. Subjects read 28 episodes, half of which were associated with well-known people and the other half with unknown people. In Experiment 1, text-provided elaborations enhanced recall only when the reader did not have a high level of prior knowledge. The findings from Experiment 1 were hypothesized to be the result of readers generating relevant elaborations during text comprehension. Experiment 2 supported this hypothesis by providing evidence of self-generated elaborations. The results from Experiments 3 and 4 extended these findings by showing that readers with high prior knowledge automatically generate causally relevant elaborations when the sentences have a low relation.     

Topic structure representation and text recall.

Tested the hypothesis that readers represent a text's topics and their interrelations as they read and then use those representations to access information about each topic. In 2 experiments, 222 undergraduates were required to read and free recall an expository text of approximately 1,100 words in length. Exp I manipulated both the order of topics in the stimulus text and whether the introductory paragraph stated the topics and their organization. It was found that Ss recalled information about fewer topics if the topics were randomly ordered and the introductory paragraph was uninformative than if topics were logically ordered or if the introductory paragraph was informative. Differences in recall of topics accounted for much of the variance in overall recall and recall errors. Exp II examined the effects of the presence or absence of topic sentences and of variations in the physical marking of paragraph boundaries. Findings show that Ss recalled information about more topics if the text contained topic sentences than if it did not. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that readers use a representation of a text's topic structure to guide recall. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are general resource notions still viable in reading research?

Conducted 2 experiments to explore the interplay between reading subcomponent efficiency and comprehension processes in terms of resource competition. In Exp 1, adults were tested on the efficiency of lexical access, semantic memory access, verbal working memory span, contextual priming, and the efficiency with which anaphors are resolved. The profile was used to predict the efficiency of high-level inference generation when readers control the pace of reading. In Exp 2, this profile was used to predict the efficiency of high-level inferencing as text was presented at a preset rate. The data suggest that when readers control reading rate, they compensate for subcomponent inefficiency such that high-level comprehension is unrelated to this inefficiency. However, when they must follow along, those who possess more efficient reading subcomponents make high-level inferences more efficiently. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences in the use of selective attention by more successful and less successful tenth-grade readers.

Both more successful and less successful readers appear to use the selective attention strategy (SAS) to learn important text information; however, more successful readers tend to learn and recall considerably more important, as well as unimportant, information. The 2 studies reported here investigated the reason(s) for the more successful readers' learning and recall advantage. In Exp 1, 10th graders were asked to read, learn, and recall information from a text on marine biology. Questions were inserted every 4 pages to manipulate text item importance. The results showed that more successful readers learned and recalled more important information than less successful readers because they were more metacognitively aware of how and when to use the SAS. In Exp 2, perceptual and conceptual attention were measured for both more and less successful readers. More successful readers used significantly more conceptual attention while reading than did less successful readers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term retention of discourse during reading.

In 2 experiments, 68 3rd, 4th, and 6th graders at different reading levels were given a probe memory task assessing the availability in working memory of recently read discourse segments. During oral and silent reading (Exp I), retention was related to segment length and the occurrence of a sentence boundary. The limits on retention were tested by increasing segment length and difficulty (Exp II). For these segments, performance of less skilled readers was uniformly low, whereas that of the skilled and older readers continued to be affected by length and sentence boundary. Relationships between individual differences in verbal coding processes and short-term retention of discourse as well as implications for text comprehension models are discussed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are performance predictions for text based on ease of processing?

In 4 experiments, the authors evaluated the hypothesis that performance predictions for text are based on ease of processing. In each experiment, participants read texts, predicted their performance for each one, and then were tested. Ease of processing was manipulated by having participants read texts that varied in coherence. Coherence was varied by manipulating causal relatedness across sentence pairs (Experiments 1 and 2) and by altering the structure of sentences within paragraphs (Experiment 3). In these experiments, prediction magnitudes increased as coherence increased, suggesting that predictions were based on processing ease. In Experiment 4, prediction magnitudes were greater for intact paragraphs than for paragraphs with letters deleted from some of the words. Discussion focuses on resolving apparent inconsistencies in the literature concerning whether processing ease influences performance predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relative inhibition following the encoding of bridging and predictive inferences.

Inferences that maintained text coherence and inferences about predictable events were examined within a word recognition paradigm previously used in investigations of anaphor resolution. Although relative facilitation has been found for explicit targets involved in anaphoric inferences, in Exp 1, relative inhibition was found for explicit targets involved in inferences that established local coherence. Exp 2 demonstrated that this relative inhibition effect was specific to inference-related explicit targets. In Exp 3, recognition instructions that allowed participants to respond positively when a target had been read or thought about eliminated the inhibition effect, supporting a source-monitoring explanation. Exps 4, 5, and 6 replicated the results of the 1st 3 experiments with predictive inferences. These data provide evidence that predictive inferences, like bridging inferences, are encoded during reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How do the efficiencies of reading subcomponents relate to looking back in text?

The compensatory-encoding model of reading suggests that experienced readers compensate metacognitively for inefficient reading subcomponents or cognitive resource limitations. For instance, readers with less efficient access to information in working memory are predicted to look back in text more than those with more efficient access to information in working memory. Both groups of readers still have good comprehension. One hundred nine adult readers were measured on the efficiencies of selected reading subcomponents. Texts were read from a computer screen 1 sentence at a time. The extent to which readers looked back in text (reread sentences) was noted. Those with more efficient access to information in verbal working memory looked back less, consistent with the model. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of coherence and relevance on shallow and deep text processing.

In 2 experiments, the authors examined the effects of coherence and relevance on shallow and deeper text processing, testing the hypothesis that enhancing the relevance of text segments compensates for breaks in local and global coherence. In Experiment 1, they found that breaks in local coherence had no effect on any outcome measures, whereas relevance enhanced deeper processing. In Experiment 2, they found that breaks in global coherence interfered with shallow processing, whereas relevance enhanced deeper processing. In addition, interactions revealed that relevance compensates for breaks in global coherence on measures of deeper processing. The compensation hypothesis was supported. One explanation for these results is that relevance enables readers to focus on salient information, which in turn can be used to repair serious coherence breaks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading spaced and unspaced Chinese text: Evidence from eye movements.

Native Chinese readers' eye movements were monitored as they read text that did or did not demark word boundary information. In Experiment 1, sentences had 4 types of spacing: normal unspaced text, text with spaces between words, text with spaces between characters that yielded nonwords, and finally text with spaces between every character. The authors investigated whether the introduction of spaces into unspaced Chinese text facilitates reading and whether the word or, alternatively, the character is a unit of information that is of primary importance in Chinese reading. Global and local measures indicated that sentences with unfamiliar word spaced format were as easy to read as visually familiar unspaced text. Nonword spacing and a space between every character produced longer reading times. In Experiment 2, highlighting was used to create analogous conditions: normal Chinese text, highlighting that marked words, highlighting that yielded nonwords, and highlighting that marked each character. The data from both experiments clearly indicated that words, and not individual characters, are the unit of primary importance in Chinese reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's understanding in reading and listening.

Children's understanding was assessed after they read or listened to brief texts that described a scene, explained a sequence of events, or told a story. Data were obtained in a developmental study of 157 2nd–6th graders and in a study of 150 5th graders. The data indicate that effectiveness in understanding depends on the fluency with which component processes of perceptual recognition, comprehension, and memory are coordinated. The understanding of novice readers, who recognized a printed text accurately but laboriously, was poorer than their understanding of a comparable spoken text. In skilled readers, a similar loss of understanding occurred when accurate recognition was accomplished at a fast pace. When skilled readers listened to a text that they could simultaneously read, their understanding was better than when they read orally. These findings interacted with text content, some materials being associated with the findings concerning both loss and improvement of understanding and other materials being associated with neither. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of across-chapter signals on recall of text.

Investigated 2 forms of across-chapter text signals: "preview" sentences, which signal contents in upcoming chapters, and "recall" sentences, which are backward signals that signal back to previously read materials. These signals may influence readers' recall of text material by guiding their attention during reading. They also may facilitate readers' activation of memory representations of previous content, thereby enhancing integrative processing. Seven experiments examined the effects of preview and recall sentences. The results of 4 experiments indicated a clear signaling effect across chapters. In Exp IV, there were significantly longer inspection times and reaction times (RTs) to secondary probes in signaled than in unsignaled paragraphs. The results of Exp V indicate that backward-signaled materials were recalled at a significantly greater rate than unsignaled materials. In addition, the signaled materials in Ss' recalls were clustered together at a significantly greater rate than unsignaled materials. Results of Exp VII indicate significantly longer inspection times and RTs to secondary probe tasks in the reading of paragraphs containing recall sentences than in the reading of paragraphs not containing signals. Results indicate that across-chapter signals have a strong effect on readers' recall of prose. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integration of topic and subordinate information during reading.

Four experiments examined how readers integrate subordinate information with relevant context as they read. Ss read texts a sentence at a time with occasional interruptions lasting 30 sec. Following a distractor task, they resumed reading after being reminded of the topic sentence of the last paragraph they read (topic cue condition), being reminded of the last sentence they had read (local cue condition), or receiving no reminder of what they had been reading (no cue condition). Reading times on the 1st sentence following interruption were faster in the topic and local cue conditions than in the no cue condition (1) when the topic and local cues supplied missing referents for the target sentences, (2) when the target sentences were written to be understood as independent statements, and (3) whether the target sentences were embedded in short or long texts. Results are interpreted as demonstrating that readers integrate subordinate information with relevant topics, as well as with the immediate local context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading in perspective: What real cops and pretend burglars look for in a story.

Tested 2 explanations of how readers' existing knowledge structures (their schemata) function during reading. According to the selective attention (SA) hypothesis, activated schemata identify certain text elements as important and direct increased processing toward those elements. According to the slot-filling hypothesis, schemata provide ready structures into which relevant information can be assimilated without additional processing. Two experiments were performed. 55 Ss participated in Exp I and 106 in Exp II. In both experiments, Ss chosen to represent 3 naturally occurring perspectives (police, real estate, and education students) were assigned to 1 of 3 perspectives (burglar, homebuyer, control). In Exp I, text elements relevant to readers' assigned perspective were rated more important. In Exp II, text was presented by computer, and reading times for individual sentences were recorded. Results confirm the powerful influence of assigned perspective on recall. Consistent with the SA hypothesis, readers spent more time on sentences containing information important to their assigned perspective. Naturally occurring perspectives had little effect in either experiment. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generative processes in reading comprehension.

In M. C. Wittrock's (1974) generative model of learning with understanding, reading comprehension occurs when readers actively construct meaning for text. Two experiments were conducted with a total of 488 6th graders, in which time to learn was held constant across all treatments. It was predicted and found that the facilitation of generative processes by the insertion of paragraph headings and instructions to generate sentences about story paragraphs during encoding produced the greatest comprehension, followed in turn by instructions to generate sentences, the insertion of paragraph headings, and then by reading the same stories without generative instructions or paragraph headings. The combination of inserted paragraph headings and instructions to generate sentences about paragraphs approximately doubled comprehension and recall in each experiment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learner-generated organizational aids: Effects on learning from text.

Compared the effects on learning from text of 4 contexts (topic sentences, headings, related sentences, and unrelated sentences) when they were generated by readers or provided in text. 133 female undergraduates read a 522-word passage based on 15 related topics within a conceptual hierarchy on minerals, and performance under each of the treatments was examined on a free recall test, matching test, and test for knowledge of passage structure. The contexts had differential effects on knowledge of passage structure only when they were generated; readers who generated topic sentences recalled more than all other learners. The provided contexts had no effect on knowledge of passage structure but increased recall of subordinate information over generated contexts. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reinstatement of causal information during reading.

An on-line word naming probe was used to test whether information presented earlier in a text, and then backgrounded by several sentences, would be reinstated when Ss were required to understand the cause of a currently processed action or event. In Exp 1, Ss named a probe word that represented an earlier-mentioned cause more quickly when it followed a causal coherence break than when it followed a neutral sentence. Exps 2 and 3 replicated this effect and examined 2 conditions that may affect the process of reinstating a cause: (1) inclusion of part of the context in which the cause was originally presented was not necessary to obtain reinstatement of the cause and (2) reinstatement of the cause was not evidenced when it had been disconfirmed earlier in the text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)