This exploratory study investigated relations between individual differences in cortical grey mat... more This exploratory study investigated relations between individual differences in cortical grey matter structure and young adult readers' cognitive profiles. Whole-brain analyses revealed neuroanatomical correlations with word and nonword reading ability (decoding), and experience with printed matter. Decoding was positively correlated with grey matter volume (GMV) in left superior temporal sulcus, and thickness (GMT) in right superior temporal gyrus. Print exposure was negatively correlated with GMT in left inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis) and left fusiform gyrus (including the visual word form area). Both measures also correlated with supramarginal gyrus (SMG), but in spatially distinct subregions: decoding was positively associated with GMV in left anterior SMG, and print exposure was negatively associated with GMT in left posterior SMG. Our comprehensive approach to assessment both confirms and refines our understanding of the novel relation between the structure of pSMG and proficient reading, and unifies previous research relating cortical structure and reading skill.
Although poor comprehenders struggle with word-level semantics, little is known about how they ne... more Although poor comprehenders struggle with word-level semantics, little is known about how they negotiate "higher-level" combinatorial semantic processing. This study investigated the relationship between reading comprehension ability and the processing of expressions requiring enriched semantic composition. Participants completed a battery of reading-related cognitive assessments, and we used a regression-based approach to calculate their comprehension ability relative to component skills. They also completed an eye movement study, reading sentences requiring enriched semantic processing, viz. complement coercion (e.g., Traxler, Pickering, & McElree, 2002). Coercing verbs have semantic selectional requirements, i.e., their complements must denote an event (e.g., started the race); when coercing verbs combine with non-event complement NPs (e.g., started the book), an event-interpretation must be selected (e.g., reading), and processing difficulty results. Our study replicates and extends Frisson & McElree (2008), which tested whether this cost reflected difficulty selecting an appropriate semantic interpretation, and reported that the number of alternative senses did not modulate processing effort-but did not account for their participants' reading ability. We predicted modulating effects of reading ability because poor readers are known to be sensitive to interference from competing, context-inappropriate semantic senses. Consistent with this, we found that poor readers processed coercing expressions more slowly than skilled readers. Further, skilled readers processed coerced expressions with few competing event-senses without apparent cost. This study shows, for the first time, that poor reader's online semantic processing difficulties extend beyond the level of lexical semantics, and that the coercion cost is at least partly attributable to semantic sense selection.
ABSTRACT This introduction to the special issue entitled “Mechanisms of Variation in Reading Comp... more ABSTRACT This introduction to the special issue entitled “Mechanisms of Variation in Reading Comprehension: Processes and Products” defines what is referred to as the process and product of reading comprehension. A specific process model is offered, and five articles are discussed referencing it. Key questions are: a) How to study the process and products of reading comprehension?; b) How are the process and product of reading comprehension related?; c) Is reading comprehension (modulo decoding) the same as listening comprehension?; d) Are comprehension processes and products influenced by the same individual differences? Word Knowledge is found to influence both process and product measures of comprehension, but is described as insufficient to account for the full range of variation in reading comprehension. The need for examining complex texts (e.g., expository genre), which require skill in processing infrequent syntactic constructions is emphasized, as well as methods for examining individual differences in multiple-text learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, Jul 1, 2019
Past studies have shown that antecedent prominence affects the processing of a pronoun, but these... more Past studies have shown that antecedent prominence affects the processing of a pronoun, but these studies have used experimental methodologies that do not make it possible to determine at what stage(s) of pronominal resolution these effects occur. We used the Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff procedure to investigate whether antecedent prominence affects the accuracy of antecedent retrieval, the speed of resolution, or both. Consistent with previous results, we find that accuracy is higher when antecedents are prominent than when they are not (cf. Foraker & McElree, 2007). However, in contrast to previous results, we also find that prominence impacts the speed with which the pronominal dependency is resolved. We consider the implications of our findings for various models of pronoun resolution and offer suggestions for how to implement prominence-sensitive speed differences within a cue-based retrieval architecture.
Studies investigating individual differences in reading ability often involve data sets containin... more Studies investigating individual differences in reading ability often involve data sets containing a large number of collinear predictors and a small number of observations. In this paper, we discuss the method of Random Forests and demonstrate its suitability for addressing the statistical concerns raised by such datasets. The method is contrasted with other methods of estimating relative variable importance, especially Dominance Analysis and Multimodel Inference. All methods were applied to a dataset that gauged eye-movements during reading and offline comprehension in the context of multiple ability measures with high collinearity due to their shared verbal core. We demonstrate that the Random Forests method surpasses other methods in its ability to handle model overfitting, and accounts for a comparable or larger amount of variance in reading measures relative to other methods.
A substantial amount of variation in reading comprehension skill is explained by listening compre... more A substantial amount of variation in reading comprehension skill is explained by listening comprehension skill, suggesting tight links between printed and spoken discourse processing. In addition, both word level (e.g., vocabulary) and discourse-level sub-skills (e.g., inference-making) support overall comprehension. However, while these contributions to variation in comprehension skill have been well-studied behaviorally, the underlying neurobiological basis of these relationships is less well understood. In order to examine the neural bases of individual differences in reading comprehension as a function of input modality and processing level, we examined functional neural activation to both spoken and printed single words and passages in adolescents with a range of comprehension skill. Data driven Partial Least Squares Correlation (PLSC) analyses revealed that comprehension skill was positively related to activation in a number of regions associated with discourse comprehension and negatively related to activation in regions associated with executive function and memory across processing levels and input modalities.
According to the cue-based parsing approach (Lewis, Vasishth, & Van Dyke, 2006), sentence compreh... more According to the cue-based parsing approach (Lewis, Vasishth, & Van Dyke, 2006), sentence comprehension difficulty derives from interference from material that partially matches syntactic and semantic retrieval cues. In a 2 (low vs. high semantic interference) × 2 (low vs. high syntactic interference) fMRI study, greater activation was observed in left BA 44/45 for high versus low syntactic interference conditions following sentences and in BA 45/47 for high versus low semantic interference following comprehension questions. A conjunction analysis showed BA45 associated with both types of interference, while BA47 was associated with only semantic interference. Greater activation was also observed in the left STG in the high interference conditions. Importantly, the results for the LIFG could not be attributed to greater working memory capacity demands for high interference conditions. The results favor a fractionation of LIFG wherein BA45 is associated with post-retrieval selection and BA47 with controlled retrieval of semantic information.
Cue-based retrieval theories in sentence processing predict two classes of interference effect: (... more Cue-based retrieval theories in sentence processing predict two classes of interference effect: (i) Inhibitory interference is predicted when multiple items match a retrieval cue: cue-overloading leads to an overall slowdown in reading time; and (ii) Facilitatory interference arises when a retrieval target as well as a distractor only partially match the retrieval cues; this partial matching leads to an overall speedup in retrieval time. Inhibitory interference effects are widely observed, but facilitatory interference apparently has an exception: reflexives have been claimed to show no facilitatory interference effects. Because the claim is based on underpowered studies, we conducted a large-sample experiment that investigated both facilitatory and inhibitory interference. In contrast to previous studies, we find facilitatory interference effects in reflexives. We also present a quantitative evaluation of the cue-based retrieval model of Engelmann et al.
haskins laboratories, new haven, ct With the publication of Reading Ability in 1985, Charles Perf... more haskins laboratories, new haven, ct With the publication of Reading Ability in 1985, Charles Perfetti set out a clear framework for describing the complex interactions between lower "word-level" processing and higher "sentence-level" and "text-level" processes, which he referred to collectively as the "text work" of the reader. The Verbal Efficiency Theory is built around the idea that the ease with which a reader can perform this text work depends on the extent to which these individual subprocesses are efficient. There is an important caveat to this simple conceptualization, however: some subprocesses are more amenable to becoming efficient, or automatic, than others. Thus, Perfetti writes that "text work is made easier to the extent that those processes which can be at high efficiency are at high efficiency" (1985, p. 104; emphasis in original). He suggested that the most likely candidates for automatization are lexical access and elementary propositional encoding (i.e., assembling a single proposition from a few words). Processes that, he suggested, would be more resistant to automatization are those that rely more on memory (e.g., integrating propositions across clauses, inference processes that require reference resolution across distances, and linking text models with previously known world knowledge). Consequently, a clear understanding of the memory mechanisms that support reading comprehension is crucial to understanding reading ability. This chapter will explore two contrasting conceptualizations of memory, both of which have been discussed in Perfetti's writings. One suggests that memory capacity creates a "bottleneck" that constrains reading ability, while the other suggests that memory capacity is not at all an issue for reading ability, but rather it is the quality of to-be-retrieved representations that most constrains the efficiency of memory processes in reading. We show how the lexical quality hypothesis, which Perfetti has emphasized in recent writings (
Successful sentence comprehension often requires the ability to link non-adjacent constituents. R... more Successful sentence comprehension often requires the ability to link non-adjacent constituents. Recent studies implicate that readers link non-adjacent constituents through an associative, direct-access mechanism, while working memory (WM) or short-term memory (STM) may not play an important role in this operation because only 1- 2 items could be maintained in the focus of attention (Van Dyke, 2007). However, prior studies with aphasic patients have supported a role for semantic STM and executive control in sentence processing (Martin et al., 2004; Vuong et al., 2011). Recently, a study with healthy subjects also demonstrated a role for semantic STM in resolving semantic interference, and a role for attentional control in resolving syntactic interference during sentence comprehension (Tan et al., 2011). These results suggested that semantic STM and attentional control are involved in semantic and syntactic aspects of sentence processing, respectively. This study further examined semantic and syntactic interference resolution in aphasic patients, who show dramatic variation in their WM/STM capacities. Semantic and syntactic interference were manipulated in a 2 x 2 design by varying the semantic plausibility of the intervening noun as the subject of the main verb and varying the syntactic role of the intervening noun (subj vs. obj). Both manipulations have been shown to increase difficulty in linking the head noun to the main verb. Example: Low-Syn: The student who was tired of the demanding assignment/coach yesterday was leaving. High-Syn: The student who said that the assignment/coach was demanding yesterday was leaving. Ten aphasic patients with good single word comprehension abilities but deficits on STM tasks were assessed on whole sentence RTs and on time and accuracy to answer comprehension questions (e.g. Was the student leaving?“). Interference effects were calculated by computing difference scores for RT and accuracy for low vs. high interference conditions. For RTs, the semantic and syntactic interference effects for most patients were within the range of controls. However, most of the patients showed exaggerated sensitivity to either semantic or syntactic interference for comprehension questions accuracy. Moreover, patients with relative better semantic STM made fewer errors in semantic interference resolution (r = -.77, p = .04), while patient with better attentional control made fewer errors in syntactic interference resolution (r = -.93, p < .001). However, neither phonological STM nor vocabulary was related to sentence processing. Our current results are consistent with the previous findings that WM and attentional control are critical for sentence processing. Poor maintenance of semantic information and deficits in attentional control lead to difficulties in semantic and syntactic processing. Reference Martin, R. C., & He, T. (2004). Semantic STM and its role in sentence processing: A replication. Brain & Lang, 89, 76-82. Tan, Y., Martin, R.C., & Van Dyke, J.A. (2011). Interference and WM in sentence comprehension. CUNY, Palo Alto, CA. Van Dyke, J.A. (2007). Interference effects from grammatically unavailable constituents during sentence processing. JEP:LMC, 33, 407-430. Vuong, L. C., & Martin, R. C. (2011). LIFG-based attentional control and the resolution of lexical ambiguities in sentence context. Brain & Lang, 116, 22-32
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, Nov 1, 2018
The present research presents a novel method for investigating how characteristics of texts (word... more The present research presents a novel method for investigating how characteristics of texts (words, sentences and passages) and individuals (verbal and general cognitive skills) jointly influence eyemovement patterns over the time-course of reading, as well as comprehension accuracy. Fifty-one proficient readers read passages of varying complexity from the Gray Oral Reading Test, while their eye-movements were recorded. Participants also completed a large battery of tests assessing various components of reading comprehension ability (vocabulary size, decoding, phonological awareness, and experience with print), as well as general cognitive and executive skills. We used the Random Forests non-parametric regression technique to simultaneously estimate relative importance of all predictors. This method enabled us to trace the temporal engagement of individual predictors and entire predictor groups on eye-movements during reading, while avoiding the problems of model overfitting and collinearity, typical of parametric regression methods. Our findings both confirmed well-established results of prior research and pointed to a space of hypotheses that is as yet unexplored. Keywords random forests; eye movements; reading; individual differences Eye-movements during passage reading are susceptible to at least three sources of variability, stemming from i) the cognitive and linguistic ability of the reader him/herself; ii) linguistic properties of the text itself; and iii) the dynamic requirements of the reading task itself. While the first two have been well studied in the literature, they are typically not examined jointly (but see Rayner, 1998, 2009 and the literature review below). The third, which requires the coordinated uptake of perceptual information (i.e., identification of lines and circles that constitute symbols) as well as the timely integration of various levels of information in the process of creating a coherent meaning representation, has only recently received direct attention (e.g., Goswami, 2011) but this work has not focused on eyemovements as a gateway for information uptake. These three sources-labeled here as Reader, Text, and Time-are known to interact (see the literature review below), and thus
This exploratory study investigated relations between individual differences in cortical grey mat... more This exploratory study investigated relations between individual differences in cortical grey matter structure and young adult readers' cognitive profiles. Whole-brain analyses revealed neuroanatomical correlations with word and nonword reading ability (decoding), and experience with printed matter. Decoding was positively correlated with grey matter volume (GMV) in left superior temporal sulcus, and thickness (GMT) in right superior temporal gyrus. Print exposure was negatively correlated with GMT in left inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis) and left fusiform gyrus (including the visual word form area). Both measures also correlated with supramarginal gyrus (SMG), but in spatially distinct subregions: decoding was positively associated with GMV in left anterior SMG, and print exposure was negatively associated with GMT in left posterior SMG. Our comprehensive approach to assessment both confirms and refines our understanding of the novel relation between the structure of pSMG and proficient reading, and unifies previous research relating cortical structure and reading skill.
Although poor comprehenders struggle with word-level semantics, little is known about how they ne... more Although poor comprehenders struggle with word-level semantics, little is known about how they negotiate "higher-level" combinatorial semantic processing. This study investigated the relationship between reading comprehension ability and the processing of expressions requiring enriched semantic composition. Participants completed a battery of reading-related cognitive assessments, and we used a regression-based approach to calculate their comprehension ability relative to component skills. They also completed an eye movement study, reading sentences requiring enriched semantic processing, viz. complement coercion (e.g., Traxler, Pickering, & McElree, 2002). Coercing verbs have semantic selectional requirements, i.e., their complements must denote an event (e.g., started the race); when coercing verbs combine with non-event complement NPs (e.g., started the book), an event-interpretation must be selected (e.g., reading), and processing difficulty results. Our study replicates and extends Frisson & McElree (2008), which tested whether this cost reflected difficulty selecting an appropriate semantic interpretation, and reported that the number of alternative senses did not modulate processing effort-but did not account for their participants' reading ability. We predicted modulating effects of reading ability because poor readers are known to be sensitive to interference from competing, context-inappropriate semantic senses. Consistent with this, we found that poor readers processed coercing expressions more slowly than skilled readers. Further, skilled readers processed coerced expressions with few competing event-senses without apparent cost. This study shows, for the first time, that poor reader's online semantic processing difficulties extend beyond the level of lexical semantics, and that the coercion cost is at least partly attributable to semantic sense selection.
ABSTRACT This introduction to the special issue entitled “Mechanisms of Variation in Reading Comp... more ABSTRACT This introduction to the special issue entitled “Mechanisms of Variation in Reading Comprehension: Processes and Products” defines what is referred to as the process and product of reading comprehension. A specific process model is offered, and five articles are discussed referencing it. Key questions are: a) How to study the process and products of reading comprehension?; b) How are the process and product of reading comprehension related?; c) Is reading comprehension (modulo decoding) the same as listening comprehension?; d) Are comprehension processes and products influenced by the same individual differences? Word Knowledge is found to influence both process and product measures of comprehension, but is described as insufficient to account for the full range of variation in reading comprehension. The need for examining complex texts (e.g., expository genre), which require skill in processing infrequent syntactic constructions is emphasized, as well as methods for examining individual differences in multiple-text learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, Jul 1, 2019
Past studies have shown that antecedent prominence affects the processing of a pronoun, but these... more Past studies have shown that antecedent prominence affects the processing of a pronoun, but these studies have used experimental methodologies that do not make it possible to determine at what stage(s) of pronominal resolution these effects occur. We used the Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff procedure to investigate whether antecedent prominence affects the accuracy of antecedent retrieval, the speed of resolution, or both. Consistent with previous results, we find that accuracy is higher when antecedents are prominent than when they are not (cf. Foraker & McElree, 2007). However, in contrast to previous results, we also find that prominence impacts the speed with which the pronominal dependency is resolved. We consider the implications of our findings for various models of pronoun resolution and offer suggestions for how to implement prominence-sensitive speed differences within a cue-based retrieval architecture.
Studies investigating individual differences in reading ability often involve data sets containin... more Studies investigating individual differences in reading ability often involve data sets containing a large number of collinear predictors and a small number of observations. In this paper, we discuss the method of Random Forests and demonstrate its suitability for addressing the statistical concerns raised by such datasets. The method is contrasted with other methods of estimating relative variable importance, especially Dominance Analysis and Multimodel Inference. All methods were applied to a dataset that gauged eye-movements during reading and offline comprehension in the context of multiple ability measures with high collinearity due to their shared verbal core. We demonstrate that the Random Forests method surpasses other methods in its ability to handle model overfitting, and accounts for a comparable or larger amount of variance in reading measures relative to other methods.
A substantial amount of variation in reading comprehension skill is explained by listening compre... more A substantial amount of variation in reading comprehension skill is explained by listening comprehension skill, suggesting tight links between printed and spoken discourse processing. In addition, both word level (e.g., vocabulary) and discourse-level sub-skills (e.g., inference-making) support overall comprehension. However, while these contributions to variation in comprehension skill have been well-studied behaviorally, the underlying neurobiological basis of these relationships is less well understood. In order to examine the neural bases of individual differences in reading comprehension as a function of input modality and processing level, we examined functional neural activation to both spoken and printed single words and passages in adolescents with a range of comprehension skill. Data driven Partial Least Squares Correlation (PLSC) analyses revealed that comprehension skill was positively related to activation in a number of regions associated with discourse comprehension and negatively related to activation in regions associated with executive function and memory across processing levels and input modalities.
According to the cue-based parsing approach (Lewis, Vasishth, & Van Dyke, 2006), sentence compreh... more According to the cue-based parsing approach (Lewis, Vasishth, & Van Dyke, 2006), sentence comprehension difficulty derives from interference from material that partially matches syntactic and semantic retrieval cues. In a 2 (low vs. high semantic interference) × 2 (low vs. high syntactic interference) fMRI study, greater activation was observed in left BA 44/45 for high versus low syntactic interference conditions following sentences and in BA 45/47 for high versus low semantic interference following comprehension questions. A conjunction analysis showed BA45 associated with both types of interference, while BA47 was associated with only semantic interference. Greater activation was also observed in the left STG in the high interference conditions. Importantly, the results for the LIFG could not be attributed to greater working memory capacity demands for high interference conditions. The results favor a fractionation of LIFG wherein BA45 is associated with post-retrieval selection and BA47 with controlled retrieval of semantic information.
Cue-based retrieval theories in sentence processing predict two classes of interference effect: (... more Cue-based retrieval theories in sentence processing predict two classes of interference effect: (i) Inhibitory interference is predicted when multiple items match a retrieval cue: cue-overloading leads to an overall slowdown in reading time; and (ii) Facilitatory interference arises when a retrieval target as well as a distractor only partially match the retrieval cues; this partial matching leads to an overall speedup in retrieval time. Inhibitory interference effects are widely observed, but facilitatory interference apparently has an exception: reflexives have been claimed to show no facilitatory interference effects. Because the claim is based on underpowered studies, we conducted a large-sample experiment that investigated both facilitatory and inhibitory interference. In contrast to previous studies, we find facilitatory interference effects in reflexives. We also present a quantitative evaluation of the cue-based retrieval model of Engelmann et al.
haskins laboratories, new haven, ct With the publication of Reading Ability in 1985, Charles Perf... more haskins laboratories, new haven, ct With the publication of Reading Ability in 1985, Charles Perfetti set out a clear framework for describing the complex interactions between lower "word-level" processing and higher "sentence-level" and "text-level" processes, which he referred to collectively as the "text work" of the reader. The Verbal Efficiency Theory is built around the idea that the ease with which a reader can perform this text work depends on the extent to which these individual subprocesses are efficient. There is an important caveat to this simple conceptualization, however: some subprocesses are more amenable to becoming efficient, or automatic, than others. Thus, Perfetti writes that "text work is made easier to the extent that those processes which can be at high efficiency are at high efficiency" (1985, p. 104; emphasis in original). He suggested that the most likely candidates for automatization are lexical access and elementary propositional encoding (i.e., assembling a single proposition from a few words). Processes that, he suggested, would be more resistant to automatization are those that rely more on memory (e.g., integrating propositions across clauses, inference processes that require reference resolution across distances, and linking text models with previously known world knowledge). Consequently, a clear understanding of the memory mechanisms that support reading comprehension is crucial to understanding reading ability. This chapter will explore two contrasting conceptualizations of memory, both of which have been discussed in Perfetti's writings. One suggests that memory capacity creates a "bottleneck" that constrains reading ability, while the other suggests that memory capacity is not at all an issue for reading ability, but rather it is the quality of to-be-retrieved representations that most constrains the efficiency of memory processes in reading. We show how the lexical quality hypothesis, which Perfetti has emphasized in recent writings (
Successful sentence comprehension often requires the ability to link non-adjacent constituents. R... more Successful sentence comprehension often requires the ability to link non-adjacent constituents. Recent studies implicate that readers link non-adjacent constituents through an associative, direct-access mechanism, while working memory (WM) or short-term memory (STM) may not play an important role in this operation because only 1- 2 items could be maintained in the focus of attention (Van Dyke, 2007). However, prior studies with aphasic patients have supported a role for semantic STM and executive control in sentence processing (Martin et al., 2004; Vuong et al., 2011). Recently, a study with healthy subjects also demonstrated a role for semantic STM in resolving semantic interference, and a role for attentional control in resolving syntactic interference during sentence comprehension (Tan et al., 2011). These results suggested that semantic STM and attentional control are involved in semantic and syntactic aspects of sentence processing, respectively. This study further examined semantic and syntactic interference resolution in aphasic patients, who show dramatic variation in their WM/STM capacities. Semantic and syntactic interference were manipulated in a 2 x 2 design by varying the semantic plausibility of the intervening noun as the subject of the main verb and varying the syntactic role of the intervening noun (subj vs. obj). Both manipulations have been shown to increase difficulty in linking the head noun to the main verb. Example: Low-Syn: The student who was tired of the demanding assignment/coach yesterday was leaving. High-Syn: The student who said that the assignment/coach was demanding yesterday was leaving. Ten aphasic patients with good single word comprehension abilities but deficits on STM tasks were assessed on whole sentence RTs and on time and accuracy to answer comprehension questions (e.g. Was the student leaving?“). Interference effects were calculated by computing difference scores for RT and accuracy for low vs. high interference conditions. For RTs, the semantic and syntactic interference effects for most patients were within the range of controls. However, most of the patients showed exaggerated sensitivity to either semantic or syntactic interference for comprehension questions accuracy. Moreover, patients with relative better semantic STM made fewer errors in semantic interference resolution (r = -.77, p = .04), while patient with better attentional control made fewer errors in syntactic interference resolution (r = -.93, p < .001). However, neither phonological STM nor vocabulary was related to sentence processing. Our current results are consistent with the previous findings that WM and attentional control are critical for sentence processing. Poor maintenance of semantic information and deficits in attentional control lead to difficulties in semantic and syntactic processing. Reference Martin, R. C., & He, T. (2004). Semantic STM and its role in sentence processing: A replication. Brain & Lang, 89, 76-82. Tan, Y., Martin, R.C., & Van Dyke, J.A. (2011). Interference and WM in sentence comprehension. CUNY, Palo Alto, CA. Van Dyke, J.A. (2007). Interference effects from grammatically unavailable constituents during sentence processing. JEP:LMC, 33, 407-430. Vuong, L. C., & Martin, R. C. (2011). LIFG-based attentional control and the resolution of lexical ambiguities in sentence context. Brain & Lang, 116, 22-32
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, Nov 1, 2018
The present research presents a novel method for investigating how characteristics of texts (word... more The present research presents a novel method for investigating how characteristics of texts (words, sentences and passages) and individuals (verbal and general cognitive skills) jointly influence eyemovement patterns over the time-course of reading, as well as comprehension accuracy. Fifty-one proficient readers read passages of varying complexity from the Gray Oral Reading Test, while their eye-movements were recorded. Participants also completed a large battery of tests assessing various components of reading comprehension ability (vocabulary size, decoding, phonological awareness, and experience with print), as well as general cognitive and executive skills. We used the Random Forests non-parametric regression technique to simultaneously estimate relative importance of all predictors. This method enabled us to trace the temporal engagement of individual predictors and entire predictor groups on eye-movements during reading, while avoiding the problems of model overfitting and collinearity, typical of parametric regression methods. Our findings both confirmed well-established results of prior research and pointed to a space of hypotheses that is as yet unexplored. Keywords random forests; eye movements; reading; individual differences Eye-movements during passage reading are susceptible to at least three sources of variability, stemming from i) the cognitive and linguistic ability of the reader him/herself; ii) linguistic properties of the text itself; and iii) the dynamic requirements of the reading task itself. While the first two have been well studied in the literature, they are typically not examined jointly (but see Rayner, 1998, 2009 and the literature review below). The third, which requires the coordinated uptake of perceptual information (i.e., identification of lines and circles that constitute symbols) as well as the timely integration of various levels of information in the process of creating a coherent meaning representation, has only recently received direct attention (e.g., Goswami, 2011) but this work has not focused on eyemovements as a gateway for information uptake. These three sources-labeled here as Reader, Text, and Time-are known to interact (see the literature review below), and thus
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