Knowledge revision processes during reading: How pictures influence the activation of outdated information.

Outdated information (i.e., information that is not or no longer accurate) continues to be automatically activated during reading and can hinder learning processes. Thus, it is important to understand which factors influence the activation of outdated information and, therefore, knowledge revision processes. In three online experiments, we investigated how illustrating updated or outdated information via pictures influences the activation of outdated information. In Experiments 1 (N = 421) and 2 (N = 422), we varied whether participants read texts containing outdated information that was later updated (outdated text) or texts containing only updated information (consistent text). In addition, the updated information was or was not illustrated by a picture. In Experiment 3 (N = 441), participants read outdated texts, and we varied whether the outdated, the updated, or no information was illustrated. In all experiments, we measured reading times for a target sentence referring to the updated information and the sentence following the target sentence. Results showed that target sentences' reading times were faster for illustrated than for non-illustrated texts (Experiments 1 and 2). Moreover, reading times were longer when the outdated information was illustrated than when the updated information was illustrated (Experiment 3). These results suggest that pictures overall facilitate cognitive processes during reading, but their content matters: Pictures showing the updated information had a greater impact on reading times than pictures showing the outdated information. The results extend existing theories on knowledge revision but also reading comprehension, by demonstrating how pictures might influence cognitive processes during reading.

Functional Headings’ Effects on Selective Attention and Reading Processes / [La influencia de los encabezados funcionales en los procesos de atención selectiva y lectura]

Textual devices such as headings convey both content information and functional information. One type of headings is referred to as functional headings, since they provide functional information but not content information. Headings such as “Introduction” denote the function of a text section but not the content information of that section. The current study included three experiments that investigated the processing of functional information during reading. Experiment 1 investigated the effects of functional information in a timed reading situation. Experiments 2 and 3 looked at the effects of functional information when there was a contradiction in the text. Our results indicated that functional information promoted selective attention during timed reading (Experiment 1). Findings from our contradiction manipulation (Experiments 2 and 3) revealed that readers used functional headings to guide their structural reading process. Implications for cognitive processes during reading and pedagogical practices are described in the general discussion section.(AU)

Las ayudas de texto, como los encabezados, transmiten tanto información de contenido como información funcional. Uno de los tipos de encabezados se conoce como encabezados funcionales, pues proporcionan información funcional pero no información de contenido. Los encabezados como “Introducción” denotan la función de una sección de texto, pero no la información de contenido de esa sección. El estudio actual incluyó tres experimentos que investigaron el procesamiento de información funcional durante la lectura. El experimento 1 investigó los efectos de la información funcional en una situación de lectura cronometrada. Los experimentos 2 y 3 analizaron los efectos de la información funcional cuando había una contradicción en el texto. Nuestros resultados indicaron que la información funcional propició la atención selectiva durante la lectura cronometrada (experimento 1). Los resultados de nuestra manipulación de contradicciones (experimentos 2 y 3) revelaron que los lectores usaban encabezados funcionales para guiar su proceso de lectura estructural. Las implicaciones para los procesos cognitivos durante la lectura y las prácticas pedagógicas se describen en la sección de discusión general.(AU)

Reading Comprehension Impairment in Children With Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1): The Need of Multimodal Assessment of Attention.

Attention span, which has been shown to have an impact on reading quality in many other conditions, is one of the main cognitive disorders of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). The aim of this work is to observe the impact of attention on reading comprehension, in NF1 and non-NF1 children. A multicenter, cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 children (8-12 years old) with or without NF1 (75 NF1 vs 75 non-NF1; 72 female, 78 male), matched for age, sex, handedness, and reading level, thus forming a continuum from good to poor readers in both NF1 and non-NF1 groups. Children with intellectual deficiency or neurologic or psychiatric disorder were excluded. Attentional skills were assessed by combining a parent questionnaire (Child Behavior CheckList) and a performance-based assessment (Conner's Continuous Performance Test-Second Edition). Reading comprehension was assessed through a standardized reading comprehension test (ORLEC Lobrot). The performance-based attention scores were associated with text and sentence comprehension ability (P = .0235 and P = .0164, respectively), while indirect questionnaire attention scores were only associated with sentence comprehension (P = .0263). For both groups, the correlations between questionnaire and performance-based measures were low. We have shown that reading comprehension is greatly influenced by attention in NF1 and non-NF1, even if predictors of good reading comprehension also include IQ score and reading accuracy. Indirect observer-rated questionnaires and direct performance-based measures of attention do not assess the same variables, are linked to different components of reading skills, and are not interchangeable assessments of attention difficulties. Both assessments are complementary and must be used simultaneously, leading to recommendations that support multimodal assessment of attention.

Integrating Curriculum-Based Dynamic Assessment in Computerized Adaptive Testing: Development and Predictive Validity of the EDPL-BAI Battery on Reading Competence.

In recent decades there have been significant changes in the conceptualization of reading as well as in the perception of how this activity should be assessed. Interest in the analysis of reading processes has led to the emergence of new explanatory models based primarily on the contributions of cognitive psychology. In parallel, there have been notable advances in measurement procedures, especially in models based on Item Response Theory (IRT), as well as in the capacity and performance of specific software programs that allow data to be managed and analyzed. These changes have contributed significantly to the rise of testing procedures such as computerized adaptive tests (CATs), whose fundamental characteristic is that the sequence of items presented in the tests is adapted to the level of competence that the subject manifests. Likewise, the incorporation of elements of dynamic assessment (DA) as the prompts are gradually offered allows for obtaining information about the type and degree of support required to optimize the subject's performance. In this sense, the confluence of contributions from DA and CATs offers a new possibility for approaching the assessment of learning processes. In this article, we present a longitudinal research developed in two phases, through which a computerized dynamic adaptive assessment battery of reading processes (EDPL-BAI) was configured. The research frame involved 1,831 students (46% girls) from 13 public schools in three regions of Chile. The purpose of this study was to analyze the differential contribution on reading competence of dynamic scores obtained in a subsample composed of 324 (47% girls) students from third to sixth grade after the implementation of a set of adaptive dynamic tests of morpho-syntactic processes. The results achieved in the structural equation modeling indicate a good global fit. Individual relationships show a significant contribution of calibrated score that reflects estimated knowledge level on reading competence, as well as dynamic scores based on the assigned value of graduated prompts required by the students. These results showed significant predictive values on reading competence and incremental validity in relation to predictions made by static criterion tests.

Learning from texts: activation of information from previous texts during reading.

Learning often involves integration of information from multiple texts. The aim of the current study was to determine whether relevant information from previously read texts is spontaneously activated during reading, allowing for integration between texts (experiment 1 and 2), and whether this process is related to the representation of the texts (experiment 2). In both experiments, texts with inconsistent target sentences were preceded by texts that either did or did not contain explanations that resolved the inconsistencies. In experiment 1, the reading times of the target sentences introducing inconsistencies were faster if the preceding text contained an explanation for the inconsistency than if it did not. This result demonstrates that relevant information from a prior text is spontaneously activated when the target sentence is read. In experiment 2 free recall was used to gain insight into the representation after reading. The reading time results for experiment 2 replicated the reading time results for experiment 1. However, the effects on reading times did not translate to measurable differences in text representations after reading. This research extends our knowledge about the processes involved in multiple text comprehension: Prior text information is spontaneously activated during reading, thereby enabling integration between different texts.

Behavioral and Neuroimaging Research of Reading: a Case of Japanese.

Behavioral studies showed that AS, an English-Japanese bilingual, was a skilled reader in Japanese but was a phonological dyslexic in English. This behavioral dissociation was accounted for by the Hypothesis of Transparency and Granularity postulated by Wydell and Butterworth. However, a neuroimaging study using magnetoencephalography (MEG) revealed that AS has the same functional deficit in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG). This paper therefore offers an answer to this intriguing discrepancy between the behavioral dissociation and the neural unity in AS by reviewing existing behavioral and neuroimaging studies in alphabetic languages such as English, Finnish, French, and Italian, and nonalphabetic languages such as Japanese and Chinese.