TY - JOUR

T1 - Connected Text Reading and Differences in Text Reading Fluency in Adult Readers

AU - Wallot, Sebastian

AU - Hollis, Geoff

AU - van Rooij, Marieke

PY - 2013/8/20

Y1 - 2013/8/20

N2 - The process of connected text reading has received very little attention in contemporary cognitive psychology. This lack of attention is in parts due to a research tradition that emphasizes the role of basic lexical constituents, which can be studied in isolated words or sentences. However, this lack of attention is in parts also due to the lack of statistical analysis techniques, which accommodate interdependent time series. In this study, we investigate text reading performance with traditional and nonlinear analysis techniques and show how outcomes from multiple analyses can used to create a more detailed picture of the process of text reading. Specifically, we investigate reading performance of groups of literate adult readers that differ in reading fluency during a self-paced text reading task. Our results indicate that classical metrics of reading (such as word frequency) do not capture text reading very well, and that classical measures of reading fluency (such as average reading time) distinguish relatively poorly between participant groups. Nonlinear analyses of distribution tails and reading time fluctuations provide more fine-grained information about the reading process and reading fluency.

AB - The process of connected text reading has received very little attention in contemporary cognitive psychology. This lack of attention is in parts due to a research tradition that emphasizes the role of basic lexical constituents, which can be studied in isolated words or sentences. However, this lack of attention is in parts also due to the lack of statistical analysis techniques, which accommodate interdependent time series. In this study, we investigate text reading performance with traditional and nonlinear analysis techniques and show how outcomes from multiple analyses can used to create a more detailed picture of the process of text reading. Specifically, we investigate reading performance of groups of literate adult readers that differ in reading fluency during a self-paced text reading task. Our results indicate that classical metrics of reading (such as word frequency) do not capture text reading very well, and that classical measures of reading fluency (such as average reading time) distinguish relatively poorly between participant groups. Nonlinear analyses of distribution tails and reading time fluctuations provide more fine-grained information about the reading process and reading fluency.

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84882646699&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/04e2905f-2a92-36f7-b99e-4fff970ce2da/

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0071914

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0071914

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 23977177

AN - SCOPUS:84882646699

VL - 8

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 8

M1 - e71914

ER -