TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of disfluency on mind wandering during text comprehension
AU - Faber, Myrthe
AU - Mills, Caitlin
AU - Kopp, Kristopher
AU - D’Mello, Sidney
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Psychonomic Society, Inc.
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - When reading, we frequently find ourselves thinking about something other than the text. These attentional lapses, known as mind wandering (MW), are negatively correlated with text comprehension. Previous studies have shown that more syntactically and semantically difficult texts elicit more MW, because textual difficulty impedes the construction of a mental model of the text, which makes it more difficult to suppress off-task thoughts. But is it possible to reduce MW without altering the content of the text itself? We hypothesized that reading a perceptually disfluent text might require more attentional resources, even if the content remained the same, leaving fewer resources available for MW. To test this idea, we manipulated the typefaces (fluent [Arial] or disfluent [[InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.]]) of two instructional texts on scientific research methods (each about 1,490 words long), and found that MW was less frequent when participants read the disfluent text. There were no comprehension differences between the fluent and disfluent groups. However, we did find an indirect effect of disfluency on comprehension through MW, suggesting that disfluency influences comprehension by enhancing attention. These findings provide insights into how processing difficulty and attention interact during reading comprehension.
AB - When reading, we frequently find ourselves thinking about something other than the text. These attentional lapses, known as mind wandering (MW), are negatively correlated with text comprehension. Previous studies have shown that more syntactically and semantically difficult texts elicit more MW, because textual difficulty impedes the construction of a mental model of the text, which makes it more difficult to suppress off-task thoughts. But is it possible to reduce MW without altering the content of the text itself? We hypothesized that reading a perceptually disfluent text might require more attentional resources, even if the content remained the same, leaving fewer resources available for MW. To test this idea, we manipulated the typefaces (fluent [Arial] or disfluent [[InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.]]) of two instructional texts on scientific research methods (each about 1,490 words long), and found that MW was less frequent when participants read the disfluent text. There were no comprehension differences between the fluent and disfluent groups. However, we did find an indirect effect of disfluency on comprehension through MW, suggesting that disfluency influences comprehension by enhancing attention. These findings provide insights into how processing difficulty and attention interact during reading comprehension.
KW - Attention
KW - Learning
KW - Reading
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U2 - 10.3758/s13423-016-1153-z
DO - 10.3758/s13423-016-1153-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 27600802
AN - SCOPUS:84986269149
SN - 1069-9384
VL - 24
SP - 914
EP - 919
JO - Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
JF - Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
IS - 3
ER -