Neural efficiency, adaptability, and synchronization, or the ability to recruit, dynamically modulate, and coordinate neural resources on an "as needed" basis, have been proposed as hallmarks of skilled reading. The current study explored the relation between these aspects of neural functioning during reading, as measured by…

Stable individual differences in cognitive motivation (i.e., the tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities) have been documented with self-report measures, yet convergent support for a trait-level construct is still lacking. In the present study, we used an innovative decision-making paradigm (COG-ED) to quantify the costs of…

This study investigated multimodal multiple text comprehension (MMTC) among forty-eight Taiwanese university students, considering their cognitive and affective characteristics. A randomized trial with pre- and post-tests design was applied. The experiment group received a browser-embedded note-taking device along with epistemic prompting. The…

We investigated the association between thinking dispositions and two outcomes of multiple-texts comprehension: integration of conflicting information in argumentative essays; and recall of inferential information as an index of deep comprehension. We focused on two thinking dispositions, need for cognition (NFC) and actively open-minded thinking…

Students are known to have various difficulties in dealing with organic reaction mechanisms. A systematic classification of these difficulties appears necessary to design appropriate support. This paper presents insights into whether and how Bloom's revised taxonomy can be used to classify student difficulties in dealing with organic reaction…

Although most children learn to communicate in their first language (L1), there is normal and expected variation in their rate of acquisition across all components of the language system. Until recently, most second language acquisition and second language (L2) researchers have assumed that individual differences (IDs) in L1 acquisition are small…

As we listen to speech, our ability to understand what was said requires us to retrieve and bind together individual word meanings into a coherent discourse representation. This so-called semantic unification is a fundamental cognitive skill, and its development relies on the integration of neural activity throughout widely distributed functional…

Despite substantive work on the cognitive processes underlying comprehension, little research has examined the "phenomenological" nature of reading. We investigated how readers' experiences of visual and verbal thought related to their transportation into the narrative text and whether these were influenced by perspective-taking.…

Comprehension substantially benefits from attending to, thinking about, and mentally representing the sources of any presented information. Such processes require mental effort and unfortunately people do not always engage in such activities. The current article presents a nascent, evolving model of discourse comprehension that formalizes…

This study used wrap-up effects on eye movements to assess the relationship between online reading behavior and comprehension. Participants, assessed on measures of reading, vocabulary, and spelling, read short passages that manipulated whether a syntactic boundary was "unmarked" by punctuation, "weakly marked" by a comma, or…

We investigated the role of linguistic and cognitive processes in reading precocity from kindergarten to grade 2. A sample of 33 precocious readers was identified that did not differ on age, gender, and parental education to a control group of 259 typical readers. The effects of verbal ability were also controlled. All children were administered a…

Within the context of comprehension and education, there has been a heavy emphasis placed on an individual's ability to construct a coherent and elaborated mental representation of text content. Previous research has aimed to establish the theoretical basis behind the comprehension process, as well as the most effective interventions for improving…

Reading is a pervasive activity in the classroom, as well as in everyday activities: comprehending text and discourse is crucial to success and survival in the modern world. Nonetheless, many students struggle to understand text at even a basic level, and even more fail to construct deep level understandings of content. Particularly for complex…

Two people in the same situation may ascribe very different meanings to their experiences. They will form different awareness, reacting differently to shared information. Various factors can give rise to this behavior. These factors include, but are not limited to, prior knowledge, training, biases, cultural factors, social factors, team vs.…

Reading comprehension is based on the efficient accomplishment of several cognitive processes at the word, sentence, and text level. To the extent that each of these processes contributes to reading comprehension, it can cause reading difficulties if it is deficient. To identify individual sources of reading difficulties, tools are required that…