Individual Differences in Reasoning about Broken Devices: An Eye Tracking Study

We examined the questions college students ask when everyday devices malfunction. Our investigation of the explanatory reasoning processes is organized around the central theme of question asking. PREG, a model of human question asking, predicts when and what types of questions are asked by humans while comprehending expository texts. PREG has two salient predictions. First, deep comprehenders should ask questions that converge on plausible faults. Second, eye movements should converge on those likely faults. An eye tracking study supported these predictions. The present research supports the claim that question asking and eye tracking are two excellent indicators of device comprehension in the context of breakdown scenarios.