Visual noise disrupts conceptual integration in reading

The Effortfulness Hypothesis suggests that sensory impairment (either simulated or age-related) may decrease capacity for semantic integration in language comprehension. We directly tested this hypothesis by measuring resource allocation to different levels of processing during reading (i.e., word vs. semantic analysis). College students read three sets of passages word-by-word, one at each of three levels of dynamic visual noise. There was a reliable interaction between processing level and noise, such that visual noise increased resources allocated to word-level processing, at the cost of attention paid to semantic analysis. Recall of the most important ideas also decreased with increasing visual noise. Results suggest that sensory challenge can impair higher-level cognitive functions in learning from text, supporting the Effortfulness Hypothesis.

[1]  Walter Kintsch,et al.  Toward a model of text comprehension and production. , 1978 .

[2]  Daniel G Bobrow,et al.  On data-limited and resource-limited processes , 1975, Cognitive Psychology.

[3]  A. Wingfield,et al.  Memorability functions as an indicator of qualitative age differences in text recall. , 1988, Psychology and aging.

[4]  Joseph P. Magliano,et al.  Chapter 9 Toward a Comprehensive Model of Comprehension , 2009 .

[5]  P. Holcomb.  Semantic priming and stimulus degradation: implications for the role of the N400 in language processing. , 2007, Psychophysiology.

[6]  Gerald Westheimer.  The oscilloscopic view: Retinal illuminance and contrast of point and line targets , 1985, Vision Research.

[7]  Keith K. Millis,et al.  Resource allocation during the rereading of scientific texts , 1998, Memory & cognition.

[8]  P. Rabbitt,et al.  Simulated visual impairment : effects on text comprehension and reading speed , 1991 .

[9]  Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow,et al.  Self-regulated reading in adulthood. , 2008, Psychology and aging.

[10]  B A Schneider,et al.  How aging affects the reading of words in noisy backgrounds. , 2000, Psychology and aging.

[11]  Joellen T. Hartley.  Aging and Prose Memory: Tests of the Resource-Deficit Hypothesis , 1993 .

[12]  Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow,et al.  Aging and self-regulated language processing. , 2006, Psychological bulletin.

[13]  Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow,et al.  Chapter 8 Aging, Self-Regulation, and Learning from Text , 2009 .

[14]  P. Rabbitt,et al.  Channel-Capacity, Intelligibility and Immediate Memory , 1968, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[15]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  Effects of task and new arguments on word reading times , 1986 .

[16]  A. Wingfield,et al.  Hearing Loss in Older Adulthood , 2005 .

[17]  Arthur Wingfield,et al.  Hearing Loss and Perceptual Effort: Downstream Effects on Older Adults’ Memory for Speech , 2005, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[18]  Frederic Dick,et al.  Effects of acoustic distortion and semantic context on event-related potentials to spoken words. , 2006, Psychophysiology.

[19]  Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow,et al.  Age Differences in the Effects of Conceptual Integration Training on Resource Allocation in Sentence Processing , 2010, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[20]  J. L. Myers,et al.  Regression analyses of repeated measures data in cognitive research. , 1990, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[21]  E. Stine-Morrow,et al.  Patterns of resource allocation are reliable among younger and older readers. , 2001, Psychology and aging.

[22]  Bruce A. Schneider,et al.  Investigating the Influence of Continuous Babble on Auditory Short-Term Memory Performance , 2008, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[23]  E. A. Stine,et al.  Age differences in reading time allocation for propositionally dense sentences. , 1994 .

[24]  Walter Kintsch,et al.  Readability and recall of short prose passages: A theoretical analysis. , 1980 .

[25]  D C Rubin,et al.  Memorability as a measure of processing: a unit analysis of prose and list learning. , 1985, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[26]  Denis G. Pelli,et al.  The remarkable inefficiency of word recognition , 2003, Nature.