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Many models of reading include cognitive components such as memory and attention in addition to the linguistic processing aspects; however, the particular effects of these other resources have yet to be clearly defined. The current study seeks to look at the effects of attentional resource manipulation on the reading process through the use of comic viewing, auditory distraction and dual-task paradigms. The study uses both behavioral measures (comprehension question performance) and eye-tracking measures (fixation time, revisits) to investigate the effects of increased cognitive load on the reading process in healthy, literate adults. The study found that healthy adults used the presence of comics to attenuate the effects of distraction and increased cognitive load on the comprehension process. Without the additional visual information of the comics, the participants showed a significant increase in the number of attempts to reread material (i.e. revisits) due to the distractor/dual-task presentation while still exhibiting notable decreases in comprehension. Furthermore, additional correlations were found between several cognitive testing measures and the participants’ performances in both the comprehension and eye-tracking measures across conditions. The results of this study provide valuable insight into future stages of this study, informing further research with both healthy adults and clinical populations such as people with aphasia or traumatic brain injuries.

In three experiments, I tested for the presence of the naming capability, the participants’ drawing responses of the stimuli learned in the absence of the visual stimulus, and the participants’ comprehension of texts with and without pictures present. In Experiment 1, I tested for the presence of naming and the drawing responses for the stimuli presented during the naming experience in the absence of the visual stimulus in 44 third and fourth grade participants. Results demonstrated that fewer instances of the naming capability, as well as the drawing response, were seen in students performing below grade-level in reading, than students performing on or above grade-level. I hypothesized that differences in reading performance may be due to the absence of a strong production response repertoire, which include behaviors such as drawing and speaking. Experiment 2 assessed whether or not the presence of visual stimuli during reading has an effect on the target participants’ comprehension of a story, as well as if the presence of the speaker component of naming and the drawing responses had an effect on comprehension. Results demonstrated that there were significant differences in comprehension scores between the three groups during the with pictures condition χ2(2, N=44) = 24.38, p = 0.00 and the without pictures condition χ2(2, N=44) = 33.47, p = 0.00. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between mean comprehension scores and the number of components drawn correctly ρ (44) = .412, p = .005. These results are consistent with the theory that the visualization of events and characters in a story is necessary to facilitate reading comprehension. Experiment 3 employed a multiple probe design across 3 groups of 2 participants to test the effects of sequencing and producing narrative components of a story on the participants’ responses to comprehension questions for texts without pictures present. The participants were 6 third grade students who demonstrated below-grade-level comprehension skills for texts without pictures present. Prior to the intervention, all participants exhibited lower comprehension scores for texts without pictures present than for texts with pictures present. Following the intervention, all participants’ comprehension scores for texts without pictures present increased, and 5 of the 6 participants showed increases in comprehension for texts with pictures present as well. Furthermore, following the intervention all participants demonstrated increases in the conditioned seeing repertoire, with 4 of the 6 participants meeting criterion level responding.

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by Chung Sin Ling Jenny. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-190). / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.ii / Contents --- p.iii / List of Tables --- p.ix / List of Figures --- p.x / Chapter Chapter1 --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Background to the Study --- p.1 / Chapter - --- Related reading research / Chapter - --- Signals and coherence / Chapter - --- Signal types studied in different conditions / Chapter - --- Contradictory findings of signal studies / Chapter - --- Reading comprehension perspectives adopted in this study / Chapter 1.2 --- The Problem --- p.7 / Chapter 1.3 --- Purpose of the Study --- p.8 / Chapter 1.4 --- Significance of the Study --- p.9 / Chapter Chapter2 --- Literature Review / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Analysis and Discussion of Theories and Models of Reading Comprehension --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Comparison of van Dijk and Kintsch's Discourse Processing Models and Other Models --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Van Dijk and Kintsch's Textbase (Microstructure and Macrostructure) Processing --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- The Comprehension Process - from an Information Processing Perspective --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.3.1 --- Introduction --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.3.2 --- The Process of Information Processing in van Dijk and Kintsch's Discourse Processing Model --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.5.3 --- Act theories (An information Processing approach from Cognitive Psychology) --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3 --- Relevance of Theories and Models of Discourse Processing to the Present Study --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- "The Relationship Between the Notions of Activation, Strength and Goals During Information Processing" --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Automatic Processing and Control Processing and Readers of Different Abilities --- p.28 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- "Meaning, Functions and Types of Strategies" --- p.30 / Chapter 2.3.3.1 --- Nature of Strategies --- p.30 / Chapter 2.3.3.2 --- Types of Strategies --- p.31 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Mental Representation and Reading Comprehension --- p.38 / Chapter 2.3.4.1 --- The Function of Mental Representation --- p.38 / Chapter 2.3.4.2 --- Levels of Meaning Representation --- p.40 / Chapter 2.3.5 --- Schema Theory and Reading Comprehension --- p.55 / Chapter 2.3.6 --- Inferencing and Reading Comprehension --- p.61 / Chapter 2.4. --- "The Relationship between Signals, Cohesion, Coherence and Reading Comprehension" --- p.52 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- "The Meaning , Types and Functions of Signals" --- p.53 / Chapter - --- An overview of the important notions of signals / Chapter - --- Other related notions of signals identified in this study / Chapter 2.4.2. --- "The Interplay of Signals, Cohesion and Coherence" --- p.64 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Interplay between Signals and Comprehension Process --- p.70 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Signal Studies --- p.74 / Chapter 2.4.4.1 --- Single signal studies --- p.74 / Chapter - --- Conjunctions / Chapter - --- Lexical and Semantic Cues / Chapter - --- "Headings, Previews & Titles" / Chapter 2.4.4.2 --- Multiple Signal Studies --- p.77 / Chapter 2.5 --- Brief Summary of Literature Review --- p.79 / Chapter Chapter3 --- Research Design / Chapter 3.1 --- Hypotheses and variables --- p.83 / Chapter 3.2 --- Sampling --- p.85 / Chapter 3.3 --- Subjects --- p.85 / Chapter 3.4 --- Materials --- p.86 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Source and Text Content --- p.86 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Simplifying Authentic Text --- p.87 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Topic and Difficulty of the Passage --- p.89 / Chapter 3.5 --- Design of the Test --- p.89 / Chapter 3.6 --- Validity --- p.92 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- Construct Validity --- p.92 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- Construct Validity --- p.94 / Chapter 3.6.3 --- Criterion Validity --- p.95 / Chapter 3.7 --- Measuring Reading Comprehension --- p.98 / Chapter 3.8 --- Preliminary Study and Pilot Studies --- p.101 / Chapter 3.8.1 --- Preliminary Study --- p.101 / Chapter 3.8.2 --- Pilot Study1 --- p.105 / Chapter 3.8.3 --- Pilot Study2 --- p.107 / Chapter 3.9 --- Testing Procedure --- p.108 / Chapter 3.10 --- Scoring --- p.109 / Chapter 3.11 --- Research Design --- p.110 / Chapter 3.11.1 --- Statistical Design / Chapter 3.12 --- Limitations --- p.112 / Chapter Chapter4 --- Results and Discussion / Chapter 4.1 --- Statistical Analysis of Tests Scores --- p.113 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Reliability and Discrimination Index --- p.135 / Chapter - --- The Pilot Studies --- p.113 / Chapter - --- The Main Study --- p.114 / Chapter 4.1.2. --- "The Interaction between ""Versions"" and ""Groups"" Of the Entire Sample" --- p.115 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- The Insignificant Difference of Signalled Versions and the Non-Signalled Version on the Reading Comprehens ion Scores of the High Group and the Medium Group --- p.116 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- The Significant Difference of Signalled Versions and the Non-Signalled Version on the Reading Comprehension Scores of the Low Group --- p.116 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- "The Means and Standard Deviations of the Low Ability Groupin Total Reading Comprehension Scores, Macrostructure Scores and Microstructure Scores of the 4 Versions in the Main Study" --- p.118 / Chapter 4.1.6 --- Results of the Means and Standard Deviations of the Three Kinds of Reading Comprehension Scores on the Entire Sample --- p.122 / Chapter 4.1.7 --- The relationship between Versions and Groups (Ability Group) --- p.122 / Chapter 4.2 --- Discussion --- p.128 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Summary of Research Findings --- p.128 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- The Relationship between Text Relations and Logical Connectives --- p.131 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Coherence Established through Logical Connectives --- p.142 / Chapter 4.3 --- The Roles of Paragraphs in Language Processing --- p.148 / Chapter 4.4 --- Comparison of the Effects of Different Types of Signals on Reading Comprehension --- p.152 / Chapter 4.5 --- Discussion on the Ability Difference in Making Use of Signals --- p.155 / Chapter 4.6 --- Summarization of Text Processing With or Without Making Use of Signals --- p.168 / Chapter Chapter5 --- Conclusions --- p.170 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.173 / "Appendix A (Examination Syllabus of Reading Comprehension Section C, Hong Kong A-Level Examination,1985)" / Appendix B (Skills invovled in Understanding Written Materials in Paper II of Hong Kong Certificate Education1989) / "Appendix C (Passages for the Reading Comprehension Post-Test: Versions 1, 2, 3,4)" / Appendix D (Question Papers for the Reading Comprehension Post-Test) / Appendix E (Pre-test Passages and Question Papers) / Appendix F(Discrimination Index of the 25 Test Questions in Pilot Study 2 Selected for the Main Study) / Appendix G (Discrimination Index of the 25 Test Questions in the Main Study) / "Appendix H (Results of T-Test on the difference among the 4versions of the Total Scores, Macrostructure Scores and the Mocrostructure Scores of the High Ability Group in the Main Study)" / "Appendix I (Results of T-Test on the difference among the 4versions of the Total Scores, Macrostructure Scores and the Microstructure Scores of the Medium Ability Group in the Main Study)"