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Keep it simple: streamlining book illustrations improves attention and comprehension in beginning readers.
Cassondra M Eng1, Karrie E Godwin2, Anna V Fisher1
1Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, 346 Baker Hall, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA.
NPJ Science of Learning
|October 21, 2020
Summary
Extraneous details in children's storybooks distract young readers, hindering reading comprehension. Simplifying illustrations improves learning by reducing attentional competition and boosting literacy development.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Beginning reader storybooks often feature extraneous illustration details.
- The impact of these extraneous details on early literacy development is not fully understood.
- Attentional competition may arise from visually complex reading materials.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if extraneous illustration details in children's storybooks cause attentional competition and impede reading comprehension.
- To determine if simplifying illustrations enhances early literacy skills.
Main Methods:
- A within-subject design was employed with 60 first- and second-grade children.
- Eye-tracking technology recorded gaze shifts, fixations to text, and fixations to illustrations.
- Children read stories in both a Standard (with extraneous details) and a Streamlined (without extraneous details) condition.
Main Results:
- Children exhibited more gaze shifts away from text in the Standard condition compared to the Streamlined condition.
- Reading comprehension was significantly higher in the Streamlined condition.
- Fixations to extraneous details negatively predicted reading comprehension, even when controlling for reading proficiency.
Conclusions:
- Extraneous illustration details in beginning reader storybooks create attentional competition, hindering reading comprehension.
- Optimizing reading material design by removing extraneous details can promote literacy development in young children.
- Findings suggest a need to reconsider illustration design in educational materials for emergent readers.
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