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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension
Published on: January 10, 2014
Text comprehension, memory, and learning
1Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309-0344.
Abstract:
People are often able to reproduce a text quite well but are unable to use the information in the text for other purposes. Factors that help people to reproduce a text have been studied for some time. This article explores ways that enable people to learn from texts. Content overlap between a text and the reader's prior knowledge is identified as one factor, and methods are proposed to identify whether a text is suitable for readers with given background knowledge. For readers with low background knowledge, a text should be as coherent and explicit as possible to facilitate learning. However, data are presented to show that for readers with adequate background knowledge, texts with coherence gaps that stimulate constructive activities are in fact better for learning.
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