Reading Chinese text on a small screen with RSVP

This study examines the effects of Chinese typography (true type and standard Kai type), speed (171, 260, and 350 wpm), font size (12- and 28-point), and presentation method (serial one word, phrase-oriented, and sentence-by-sentence method) on users' reading comprehension for reading Chinese text on a small screen using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). Scores for reading comprehension indicated that typography style and font size did not significantly affect reading comprehension. Speed and presentation method, however, were significant factors in terms of the reading comprehension. In addition, the interaction between the speed and the presentation method also significantly affected the reading comprehension. When the presentation methods were serial one word and sentence-by-sentence formats, reading comprehension revealed no significant difference under different speed levels. Nonetheless, when the presentation method was in the phrase-oriented format, reading comprehension with a lower speed of 171 wpm was significantly higher than that with the speeds of 350 and 260 wpm.     

Effects of different interaction modes on fatigue and reading effectiveness with mobile phones

Reading on touchscreen mobile devices is common in modern society. However, it is difficult to determine which interaction mode has the best reading effect when reading texts of different lengths. Using memory tests, eye-movement data analysis, and task load scale, we studied the effects of paging and vertical scrolling modes on the memory level, visual fatigue, task load, and reading speed of 28 participants reading both long and short texts. The results showed that vertical scrolling has a better memory effect than paging mode when reading short texts, but there was no difference in effect when reading long texts; the blink frequency in paging mode is higher than in scrolling mode whether reading long or short texts; no significant differences were found in reading speed in scrolling or paging mode when reading short or long texts; and in task load, the mental and temporal demands in scrolling mode were lower than in paging mode whether reading long or short texts. Considering that most current mobile readings do not differ in interaction mode according to the length of reading material, our conclusions provide valuable design recommendations to designers working on mobile reading apps.     

Designing an interface to optimize reading with small display windows.

The extent of electronic presentation of text in small display windows is mushrooming. In the present paper, 4 ways of presenting text in a small display window were examined and compared with a normal page condition: rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), RSVP with a completion meter, sentence-by-sentence presentation, and sentence-by-sentence presentation with a completion meter. Dependent measures were reading efficiency (speed and comprehension) and preference. For designers of hardware or software with small display windows, the results suggest the following: (a) Though RSVP is disliked by readers, the present methods of allowing self-pacing and regressions in RSVP are efficient and feasible, unlike earlier tested methods; (b) slower reading in RSVP should be achieved by increasing pauses between sentences or by repeating sentences, not by decreasing the presentation rate within a sentence; (c) completion meters do not interfere with performance and are usually preferred; (d) the space-saving sentence-by-sentence format is as efficient and as preferred as the normal page format.     

Reading dynamically displayed text

Two experiments were carried out to find an optimal electronic text display method given limited display space. The display formats tested fell into two categories: Times Square, in which text is scrolled from right to left; and rapid, serial, visual presentation (RSVP), in which text is presented one or several words at a time to a fixed location in the display. Previous studies have indicated that Times Square format is not as efficient as page format display or, by extrapolation, as RSVP. These studies, unlike the present experiments, did not include a smooth-scrolling (pixel-by-pixel) condition. In Experiment 1, a comparison was made between multiple-word RSVP and three versions of Times Square format, differing only in the size of steps by which the display was scrolled. Except for the largest step-size, comprehension was as high in the Times Square conditions as in the RSVP condition. The subjects expressed a significant preference for smooth scrolling Times Square over any other condition. Experiment 2 showed that comprehension for smooth scrolling Times Square was at least as high as that for RSVP at presentation rates ranging from 100 to 300 words per minute. Times Square reading is discussed in terms of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN).     

Effects of display method,number of message lines,and text colour on Chinese comprehension and subjective preferences for an LED display

This study investigated the effects of display method, number of message lines and text colour on comprehension performance and subjective preferences for reading Chinese on a light‐emitting diode display. The factors and levels studied were: two text display methods (rapid serial visual presentation ‘rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP)’ and paged view scrolling), four numbers of message lines displayed at a time (one to four lines) and three text colours (amber, green and red). The RSVP method resulted in higher comprehension scores than the paged view scrolling method, and the green text produced better comprehension score than amber or red. However, the paged view scrolling received better subjective evaluation ratings than the RSVP method. A multiline display was found to be superior to a single‐line display for both comprehension scores and subjective evaluations. The results here provide useful ergonomics recommendations for choice of appropriate display method and format setting for presenting Chinese messages on light‐emitting diode displays.     

Reading dynamic Chinese text on the go

Abstract— Previous studies have shown that dynamic displays during rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) privilege temporal rather that spatial information in overcoming the limits of small screens. Such studies have been conducted under stationary or idealized conditions using conventional desktop‐paradigm evaluation strategies, resulting in deficient understandings of how changes in motion affect users' ability to perform effectively. This study examined the impact of two important dynamic display factors on the reading comprehension achieved by participants while walking on a predefined path and standing: word‐by‐word and one‐line presentation formats and presentation rates of 182, 232, 282, and 332 characters per minute (cpm). The results of this study showed that an RSVP display can represent an alternative for reading textual information when a word‐by‐word format is presented with a 332‐cpm presentation rate. When the one‐line presentation format is used, however, a lower presentation rate of 282 cpm should be chosen. Future research should attempt to simulate real life more closely and explore the effects of the multiple functions performed by various RSVP displays on reading comfort and comprehension.     

Reading a dynamic presentation of Chinese text on a single-line display

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of presentation method and presentation rate on reading a dynamic presentation of Chinese text on a single-line display. A novel presentation concept that Chinese word as a presentation unit was examined. Twenty-four subjects completed 12 experimental treatments composed of four presentation methods (i.e., leading format with conventional layout or LC, rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) format with conventional layout or RC, leading format with inter-word spacing or LW, and RSVP format with word or RW) and three presentation rates (120-, 240- and 500-character-per-minute). The results revealed that recall accuracy and satisfaction score for the leading format were better than the RSVP format. Furthermore, the layouts that used words as presentation units were better than the conventional layout in which characters were the presentation units. Subjects’ performance deteriorated when presentation rate was at a high speed of 500 characters per minute, particularly for the RSVP method with conventional layout. The implications of the results on reading a dynamic presentation of Chinese text are discussed.     

Hypermedia annotation presentation: The effect of location and type on the EFL learners’ achievement in reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition

This study investigated the effect of gloss presentation in different text locations whilst participants read EFL texts in a hypermedia environment. Seventy-eight undergraduate EFL learners read and summarized seven texts and completed a vocabulary assessment. The number of propositions recalled in each summary was recorded. The data suggest that reading passages with hypermedia annotations significantly benefits passage comprehension and vocabulary (compared to reading passages with no annotations). The best performance was observed in the condition where glosses were placed after the glossed word. The study also reported large observed score mean differences for the definition gloss type of 3–5-words.     

Effects of the presentation characteristics of dual dynamic information text on comprehension using an LCD monitor

Abstract— This study investigated the effects of the presentation method, presentation rate, type of flickering character presented in a dynamic headline, and spacing between the headline and the display window on reading moving Chinese text in a single‐line display. Eighty‐three subjects aged 14–18 years of age completed 27 experimental treatments consisting of three presentation methods (i.e., leading format, rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), with full display window, and RSVP with clause), three presentation rates (80, 155, and 230 cpm), and three types of flickering characters (twinkling, rotating, and shrinking) presented in a headline. The spacing between the headline and the display window (0.4 vs. 0.7 vs. 1.0 cm) served as the between‐subjects factor. Results showed that comprehension accuracy was lower for dynamic text presented in the leading format than for that presented in the RSVP format with a full display window or with clause. Comprehension accuracy was also lower in response to a presentation rate of 230 cpm than to a presentation rate of 80 cpm. Analyses indicated that the spacing between the headline and the display window significantly affected comprehension accuracy; the rate of accurate responses was greater with a spacing of 1.0 cm than with a spacing of 0.4 cm. However, the type of flickering characters did not significantly affect comprehension accuracy. Implications of these results for designing dynamically presented Chinese text on a Web site are discussed.     

The impact of reading fluency level on interactive information retrieval

Given an information need and the corresponding set of documents retrieved, it is known that user assessments for such documents differ from one user to another. One frequent reason that is put forward is the discordance between text complexity and user reading fluency. We explore this relationship from three different dimensions: quantitative features, subjective-assessed difficulty, and reader/text factors. In order to evaluate quantitative features, we wondered whether it is possible to find differences between documents that are evaluated by the user and those that are ignored according to the complexity of the document. Secondly, a task related to the evaluation of the relevance of short texts is proposed. For this end, users evaluated the relevance of these short texts by answering 20 queries. Documents complexity and relevance assessments were done previously by some human experts. Then, the relationship between participants assessments, experts assessments and document complexity is studied. Finally, a third experimentation was performed under the prism of neuro-Information Retrieval: while the participants were monitored with an electroencephalogram (EEG) headset, we tried to find a correlation among EEG signal, text difficulty and the level of comprehension of texts being read during the EEG recording. In light of the results obtained, we found some weak evidence showing that users responded to queries according to text complexity and user’s reading fluency. For the second and third group of experiments, we administered a sub-test from the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test to ensure that participants had a roughly average reading fluency. Nevertheless, we think that additional variables should be studied in the future in order to achieve a sound explanation of the interaction between text complexity and user profile.

     

一种面向公安警情领域的事件抽取方法

公安警情领域存在大量警情文本数据,如何从不同源、不同格式的警情文本中抽取出案情相关信息是公安情报信息处理工作的一个重要内容。基于公安警情领域数据特点,该文提出了一种结合无触发词事件识别和基于阅读理解的事件论元角色分类的事件抽取方法。该方法首先采用无触发词方法实现事件识别;在事件识别结果的基础上,通过阅读理解方式实现对事件论元角色的分类。实验表明,该文提出的方法在不标注触发词情况下在警情领域数据中能更好地实现事件信息抽取。     

Expository multimedia comprehension in E-learning: Presentation format,verbal ability and working memory capacity

Most of the studies establishing factors affecting digital text and multimedia comprehension have been conducted in controlled conditions. The present study sought to test and extend the modality and seductive details effects, and the role of verbal ability and working memory capacity, to a remote, self-paced, E-learning scenario. Two hundred and thirteen first-year undergraduates read or watched videos about scientific expository content in three formats: digital text (written expository texts, navigated in seven screens), presentation video (audio explanation, with written keywords), and presentation video with dynamic decorative images (audio explanation, written keywords, and dynamic decorative and irrelevant images). In a face-to-face session, they completed working memory and verbal ability tests. Comprehension performance was similar for the three conditions. For the multimedia videos with dynamic decorative irrelevant images, comprehension depended on working memory capacity. Verbal ability was relevant for both expository text and videos.     

The effects of text structure and prior knowledge of the learner on computer-based learning

This study is an attempt to investigate the effects of document structure and knowledge level of the reader on reading comprehension, browsing, and perceived control. Four types of texts are distinguished, differing in structure (linear text, hierarchical hypertext, mixed hypertext, and generative text). All the materials were on a PC. In all conditions, participants were allowed 1 h to read through the document. After completing the reading part of the experiment, they were asked to fill out the perceived control questionnaire followed by the reading comprehension test. As far as reading comprehension was concerned, knowledgeable participants had higher reading comprehension scores than non-knowledgeable participants only in the linear text. In addition, there were no significant differences in terms of the reading comprehension scores of the knowledgeable participants among the four topologies. However, the performance of non-knowledgeable participants differed with respect to the type of the topology. In particular, non-knowledgeable participants in the hierarchical and generative conditions performed better than those in the other two conditions. With respect to perceived control, the performance of knowledgeable and non-knowledgeable participants was equivalent in all four conditions. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the computer-based learning.     

Hypertext annotation: Effects of presentation formats and learner proficiency on reading comprehension and vocabulary learning in foreign languages

This study extends current knowledge by exploring the effect of different annotation formats, namely in-text annotation, glossary annotation, and pop-up annotation, on hypertext reading comprehension in a foreign language and vocabulary acquisition across student proficiencies. User attitudes toward the annotation presentation were also investigated. Data were collected from 83 non-English-majored university students in Taiwan in a 4-week period. Each week participants read 3 passages, each with different annotation formats as a treatment condition and one passage without annotation as a control condition. Posttests of reading comprehension and vocabulary recognition followed each passage. The results indicate that, for reading comprehension, the in-text format led to the lowest performance among all types of annotation, including the control condition. The best performance was observed in the condition where annotations were presented in the pop-up format. No interaction effect between format and proficiency was detected. For vocabulary acquisition, reading passages with hypermedia annotations significantly benefit vocabulary learning for participants of medium and high proficiencies compared with the control condition. No significant differences were found among the 3 formats. The beneficial effect, however, did not extend to low-proficiency participants. Participant feedback revealed a positive attitude toward annotations. Among the 3 annotation formats, the glossary type was considered the least preferred type by participants. Findings of the research provide insights on the design and instruction for online reading.     

Optimizing the reading of electronic text using rapid serial visual presentation

The focus on communications technology in recent years has led to the question of how to best display electronic text onto small-screened devices. Past studies have shown that the compact method of rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) is efficient but not well liked. Two experiments were conducted to explore ways of improving the preference for and feasibility of RSVP. In experiment 1, the effects of a completion meter, punctuation pauses, and variable word duration were studied. Although the sentence-by-sentence and normal page formats were still superior, post-experiment ratings indicated that punctuation pauses improved user preference for RSVP, and its preference increased in general with practice. In experiment 2, a modified RSVP condition included a completion meter, punctuation pauses, interruption pauses and pauses at clause boundaries. This condition was significantly preferred to a normal RSVP condition. The present enhancements may increase the feasibility of using RSVP with small displays.     

Dynamic text presentation in print interpreting – An eye movement study of reading behaviour

Print interpreting supports people with a hearing disability by giving them access to spoken language. In print interpreting, the interpreter types the spoken text in real time for the hard-of-hearing client to read. This results in dynamic text presentation. An eye movement study was conducted to compare two types of dynamic text presentation formats in print interpreting: letter-by-letter and word-by-word. Gaze path analysis with 20 hearing participants showed different types of reading behaviour during reading of two pieces of text in these two presentation formats. Our analysis revealed that the text presentation format has a significant effect on reading behaviour. Rereading and regressions occurred significantly more often with the word-by-word format than with the letter-by-letter format. We also found a significant difference between the number of regressions starting at the words that end a sentence and that of regressions starting at all other words. The frequency of rereading was significantly higher for incorrectly typed or abbreviated words than for the other words. Analysis of the post-test questionnaire found almost equal acceptance of the word-by-word and letter-by-letter formats by the participants. A follow-up study with 18 hard-of-hearing participants showed a similar trend in results. The findings of this study highlight the importance of developing print interpreting tools that allow the interpreter and the client to choose the options that best facilitate the communication. They also bring up the need to develop new eye movement metrics for analysing the reading of dynamic text, and provide first results on a new dynamic presentation context.     

抽取式机器阅读理解研究综述

机器阅读理解要求机器能够理解自然语言文本并回答相关问题,是自然语言处理领域的核心技术,也是自然语言处理领域最具挑战性的任务之一。抽取式机器阅读理解是机器阅读理解任务中一个重要的分支,因其更贴合实际情况,更能够反映机器的理解能力,成为当前学术界和工业界的研究热点。对抽取式机器阅读理解从以下四个方面进行了全面地综述：介绍了机器阅读理解任务及其发展历程;介绍了抽取式机器阅读理解任务以及其现阶段存在的难点;对抽取式机器阅读理解任务的主要数据集及方法进行了梳理总结;讨论了抽取式机器阅读理解的未来发展方向。     

Comprehension aids for on-line reading of expository text

A chapter of expository text was presented on a CRT with optional "windowing" of definitions of selected words varying in relevance to each screen's main ideas. A test treatment was interposed to influence reading strategies. Dependent variables included text reading time, frequency of definition "calls," definition reading rates, and scores on a final comprehension test. Results indicate that a technical chapter can be read from a CRT with appreciable content retention. Subjects accessed 80% of available definitions, but those able to "call" content-relevant definitions increased their frequency of definition "calls." Definition reading rate diminished; comprehension and processing time increased only for subjects accessing the theoretically relevant definitions. The results suggest how the use of definitions enhances the comprehension of on-line training manuals, texts, and help screens. "Callable" definitions need not include all low-frequency technical concepts but only those relevant to reductive main ideas.     

The impact of paper-based versus computerized presentation on text comprehension and memorization

We compared the effects of two media (paper vs. computer) on reading comprehension and memorization among students in their third or fourth year of secondary school. To assess comprehension, we constructed and validated a text with a carefully controlled hierarchical structure, accompanied by a questionnaire containing three types of questions (surface, semantic, inference). Memory of the text was assessed with a test based on the Remember-Know (R/K) paradigm. The results of the comprehension and R/K tests indicated that there was no difference between the two media. Regardless of medium, surface comprehension was better than either semantic or inference comprehension. The R/K test indicated that memorization was better for the surface elements of the text (more R than K responses). In conclusion, overall results show that if we fulfil all the conditions of paper-based versus computerized presentation (text structure, presentation on a single page, screen size, several types of questions measuring comprehension and memory performances), reading performances are not significantly different.     

Reading sequentially-presented Chinese text: effects of display format

Abstract

Chinese text segments were sequentially presented to a single location of a computer screen at rates of 300 and 600 characters per min (CPM). These segments were either structured ‘idea units’ or random segments of equal length. The random segments were shown for equal amounts of time (the uniform condition). The display duration for each idea unit was determined either by its physical size (the structured-fixed condition) or according to the mean reading time in self-paced reading task of a pilot study (the structured-observed condition). Reading performance was assessed using multiple choice comprehension questions. Results showed that the two structured conditions were superior to the uniform condition. Also, the good readers performed better in the structured-observed condition than in the structured-fixed condition when the display rate was 600 CPM. When the display rate was 300 CPM, the poor readers showed a similar effect. These results suggest that the structured-observed condition could be superior to other presentation formats for reading sequentially-presented text.