Effects of speeded speech presentations on confidence‐weighted and traditional comprehension scores

Abstract

The two‐process hypothesis suggests that presentation rate can be increased, without a corresponding loss in comprehension, until it reaches and exceeds the receiver's decoding capacity, suggesting a non‐linear rate‐comprehension relationship. In the present study this prediction of non‐linearity was evaluated in light of both confidence‐weighted and traditional comprehension scores. The results indicate that comprehension operationalized by traditional scoring techniques is not significantly affected until presentation rates reach 280 words per minute, a finding consistent with previous research. However, when confidence‐weighted scoring is employed, increased presentation rate is accompanied by linear decreases in comprehension.