Regularities in Reading Times

目前的研究主要关注从阅读过程的测量中预测文本理解。熟练的阅读过程通常以快速的信息处理为标志，同时阅读过程与文本之间存在系统的耦合，但问题是阅读速度与文本理解之间的关系并不明确，阅读速度成分对文本理解的预测性不强。此外，阅读过程和文本之间的耦合通常通过关联过程测量（响应时间，眼球运动.）具有语言文本特征（词汇、语义、句法和连贯性相关的文本描述符.）。然而，这种相关性的强度在不同的语言之间存在系统性的差异。本项目提出了一个假设，即阅读时间规律性（RTR）可以作为一个新的度量标准，从阅读过程测量中预测阅读理解。RTR基于序列中规律性程度的统计测量（递归量化分析、排列熵），例如文本阅读期间响应时间或眼球运动的时间序列测量。特别是，它被假设为RTR捕获之间的耦合强度阅读过程的措施和语言文本的功能。此外，据推测，这种耦合强度的程度是预测的阅读理解。由于RTR的计算不涉及语言特征，而是基于阅读过程的测量，因此RTR被假设为阅读过程流畅性的独立语言度量。在当前的提案中，三个子项目测试了具体的假设：1）RTR捕获阅读过程和文本之间的耦合，2）阅读过程的RTR预测阅读理解，假设1是通过比较不同的阅读条件（如有意识阅读与无意识阅读，快速阅读与理解阅读）来验证的。假设2是通过检查眼动在文本阅读和使用RTR的眼动预测阅读理解性能。假设3通过对汉语、英语、德语和希伯来语的阅读进行跨语言研究，将眼动反应时间与这些语言的阅读理解能力联系起来，基于读者在阅读过程中系统地利用相关语言信息的能力，将眼动反应时间作为流畅阅读的语言不变指标。

The current project is concerned with predicting text comprehension from reading process measures. The process of skilled reading is usually marked by fast information processing, as well as a systematic coupling between reading process and text.The problem is, however, that reading speed has an ambiguous relationship to text comprehension, and reading speed components are not very predictive of text comprehension. Also, coupling between reading process and text is usually assessed by correlating process measures (response times, eye movements...) with linguistic text features (lexical, semantical, syntactical and coherence-related text descriptors...). However, the strength of this correlation varies systematically between different languages.The current project advances the hypothesis that reading time regularity (RTR) can serve as a new metric that predicts reading comprehension from reading process measures. RTR is based on statistical measures of the degree of regularity in a sequence (Recurrence Quantification Analysis, Permutation Entropy), such as time series measures of response times or eye movements during text reading. Particularly, it is hypothesized that RTR captures the coupling strength between reading process measures and linguistic text features. Further, it is hypothesized that the degree of this coupling strength is predictive of reading comprehension. Because the calculation of RTR does not entail linguistic features, but is based on reading process measures alone, it is hypothesized that RTR makes for a language-independent metric of reading process fluency.In the current proposal, three subprojects test the specific hypotheses that 1) RTR captures coupling between reading process and text, 2) RTR of the reading process predicts reading comprehension, and 3) RTR predicts comprehension invariantly across reading in different languages.Hypothesis 1 is investigated by comparing different reading conditions which are known to increase or decrease coupling between reading process and text (such as mindful vs. mindless reading, or speed reading vs. reading for comprehension). Hypothesis 2 is investigated by examining eye movements during text reading and using RTR of eye movements to predict reading comprehension performance. Hypothesis 3 is investigated by conducting a cross-language study of reading in Chinese, English, German, and Hebrew, relating RTR of eye movements to reading comprehension performance across these languages.Taken together, the proposed research aims at establishing RTR as language-invariant metric for fluent reading, based on how well readers are able to utilize relevant linguistic information during the reading process in a systematic manner.