This study focuses on the impact of linguistic markers of coherence on the comprehension of expository discourse. The impact of such markers on comprehension (i.e. off-line) is a highly controversial topic in current studies, especially for connectives for which a facilitating as well as an interfering role has been demonstrated. As a matter of fact, it seems that connectives facilitate the com...

In the research reported here, we examined whether task demands can induce momentary tunnel vision during reading. More specifically, we examined whether the size of the functional visual field depends on task relevance. Forty participants read an expository text with a specific task in mind while their eye movements were recorded. A display-change paradigm with random-letter strings as preview...

Although influences of interest on learning are well documented, mediating processes have not been clarified. The authors investigated how individual and situational interest factors contribute to topic interest and text learning. Traditional self-report measures were combined with novel interactive computerized methods of recording cognitive and affective reactions to science and popular cultu...

One of the most crucial problem areas of information science concerns the identification of what documents are 'about'. This paper seeks to define the notion of 'aboutness ' within the context of recent work in text linguistics. It describes, first, the essential communicational structures of sentences, paragraphs and texts in terms of theme, rheme and thematic progression, connectors of clause...

We examined the effect of interruption on reading to determine if discourse processing is susceptible to similarity-based interference. Participants read pairs of passages, either one before the other (in the continuous condition) or with the sentences of the two passages interleaved (in the interruption condition). In addition, the similarity of the types of passages (narrative or expository) ...

We report three randomised and pre-registered experiments examining the effects of narrative fiction (vs. non-fiction vs. expository non-fiction) on concern for animal welfare. In Experiment 1a (N = 363) there was no significant increase in welfare or willingness to donate an charity among participants who read a text about monkey's plight texts monkey). 1b =121) greater after reading compared ...

In this research, we present the concept of Hyperaudio as non-linear presentation of auditory information in the context of underlying theoretical assumptions of how Hyperaudio differs from existing non-linear information media. We present a study comparing text and auditory represented information either in a linear or non-linear manner and the interaction of these presentation formats with di...