A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
The influence of a reading task on children's eye movements during reading
Authors: Kaakinen JK, Lehtola A, Paattilammi S
Publisher: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publication year: 2015
Journal: Journal of Cognitive Psychology
Journal name in source: JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Journal acronym: J COGN PSYCHOL
Volume: 27
Issue: 5
First page : 640
Last page: 656
Number of pages: 17
ISSN: 2044-5911
eISSN: 2044-592X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2015.1005623
In the present study, second graders (n= 23), fourth graders (n= 16), sixth graders (n= 24) and adults (n= 21) read texts adopted from children's science textbooks either with the task to answer a why question presented as the title of the text or for comprehension when their eye movements were recorded. Immediately after reading, readers answered a text memory and an integration question. Second graders showed an effect of questions as increased processing during first-pass reading, whereas older readers showed the effect in later look-backs. For adult readers, questions also facilitated first-pass reading. Text memory or integration question-answering was not influenced by the reading task. The results indicate that questions increase the standards of coherence for text information and that already young readers do modify their reading behaviour according to task demands.