Situational enjoyment is associated with gaze behaviour during reading

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Reading Science
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Reading enjoyment is often viewed as a fixed personality trait.
• However, individual reading enjoyment can fluctuate significantly in the short term.
• Understanding these fluctuations is crucial for comprehending reading engagement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between trait and state reading enjoyment with engagement and eye movement patterns.
• To explore how momentary changes in enjoyment affect reading strategies and cognitive resource allocation.

Main Methods:

• Seventy-six adults read 40 book synopses.
• Participants rated their enjoyment, answered comprehension questions, and indicated willingness to wait for book cover reveals.
• Eye movements were recorded, and mixed-effects models were used to analyze trait and state enjoyment.

Main Results:

• Both trait and state enjoyment positively predicted willingness to wait and reading comprehension.
• Trait enjoyment correlated with longer reading times.
• State enjoyment was linked to longer passage times, increased word skipping, faster initial word processing, and more regressions, indicating efficient first-pass reading with subsequent rereading.

Conclusions:

• Reading enjoyment, at both trait and state levels, is a significant predictor of reading engagement and comprehension.
• Within-person fluctuations in enjoyment are systematically related to distinct reading strategies.
• This highlights a dynamic interplay between perceived text value and the cognitive resources invested in reading.