Improving Silent Reading Performance Through Feedback on Eye Movements: A Feasibility Study

ABSTRACT

This feasibility study investigated if feedback about individual eye movements, reflecting varying word processing stages, can improve reading performance. Twenty-five university students read 90 newspaper articles during 9 eye-tracking sessions. Training group participants (n = 12) were individually briefed before each session, which eye movement parameter(s) (fixation count, first fixation duration, regression, and/or skipping) to address, and informed about changes achieved in preceding sessions. Control group participants (n = 13) were told that self-instruction to read faster would produce training gains. Total fixation times decreased significantly more for training than for control group participants. Important to note, faster reading did not impair comprehension. Results are interpreted as first indications for a possible applicability of the feedback approach to silent reading. In addition to implications for future studies, alternative result interpretations (e.g., motivational effects, reduction of mindless reading) are discussed.

Acknowledgments

Data availability: Data and R-scripts for all analyses are available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1167557.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the 7.FP, COFUND, Goethe International Postdoc Programme GO-IN, 291776 granted to Sebastian P. Korinth. Christian J. Fiebach was supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2013) under Grant Agreement No. 617891.