Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 May;48(4):553-565.
doi: 10.3758/s13421-019-00989-3.

Individual differences in reading: Separable effects of reading experience and processing skill

Peter C Gordon  1 , Mariah Moore  2 , Wonil Choi  3 , Renske S Hoedemaker  4 , Matthew W Lowder  5
Affiliations

Individual differences in reading: Separable effects of reading experience and processing skill

Peter C Gordon et al. Mem Cognit. 2020 May.

Abstract

A large-scale eye-tracking study examined individual variability in measures of word recognition during reading among 546 college students, focusing on two established individual-differences measures: the Author Recognition Test (ART) and Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN). ART and RAN were only slightly correlated, suggesting that the two tasks reflect independent cognitive abilities in this large sample of participants. Further, individual variability in ART and RAN scores were related to distinct facets of word-recognition processes. Higher ART scores were associated with increased skipping rates, shorter gaze duration, and reduced effects of word frequency on gaze duration, suggesting that this measure reflects efficiency of basic processes of word recognition during reading. In contrast, faster times on RAN were associated with enhanced foveal-on-parafoveal effects, fewer first-pass regressions, and shorter second-pass reading times, suggesting that this measure reflects efficient coordination of perceptual-motor and attentional processing during reading. These results demonstrate that ART and RAN tasks make independent contributions to predicting variability in word-recognition processes during reading.

Keywords: ART; Eye movements; Individual differences; RAN; Reading.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Acheson, D. J., Wells, J. B., & MacDonald, M. C. (2008). New and updated tests of print exposure and reading abilities in college students. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 278–289. - PMC
    1. Arnell, K. M., Joanisse, M. F., Klein, R. M., Busseri, M. A., & Tannock, R. (2009). Decomposing the relation between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and reading ability. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 173–184. - PubMed
    1. Ashby, J., Rayner, K., & Clifton, C., Jr. (2005). Eye movements of highly skilled and average readers: Differential effects of frequency and predictability. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58A, 1065–1086.
    1. Beech, J. R. (2002). Individual differences in mature readers in reading, spelling, and grapheme-phoneme conversion. Current Psychology, 21, 121–132.
    1. Brysbaert, M., Drieghe, D., & Vitu, F. (2005). Word skipping: Implications for theories of eye movement control in reading. In G. Underwood (Ed.), Cognitive processes in eye guidance (pp. 53–77). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources