Eng Cassondra M, Godwin Karrie E, Fisher Anna V
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, 346 Baker Hall, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, USA.
NPJ Sci Learn. 2020 Sep 28;5:14. doi: 10.1038/s41539-020-00073-5. eCollection 2020.
This study used eye-tracking to examine whether extraneous illustration details-a common design in beginning reader storybooks-promote attentional competition and hinder learning. The study used a within-subject design with first- and second-grade children. Children ( = 60) read a story in a commercially available Standard condition and in a Streamlined condition, in which extraneous illustrations were removed while an eye-tracker recorded children's gaze shifts away from the text, fixations to extraneous illustrations, and fixations to relevant illustrations. Extraneous illustrations promoted attentional competition and hindered reading comprehension: children made more gaze shifts away from text in the Standard compared to the Streamlined condition, and reading comprehension was significantly higher in the Streamlined condition compared to the Standard condition. Importantly, fixations toward extraneous details accounted for the unique variance in reading comprehension controlling for reading proficiency and attending to relevant illustrations. Furthermore, a follow-up control experiment ( = 60) revealed that these effects did not solely stem from enhanced text saliency in the Streamlined condition and reproduced the finding of a negative relationship between fixations to extraneous details and reading comprehension. This study provides evidence that the design of reading materials can be optimized to promote literacy development in young children.
本研究采用眼动追踪技术，以检验无关插图细节（这是初级读物故事书中常见的一种设计）是否会引发注意力竞争并阻碍学习。该研究采用了针对一、二年级儿童的被试内设计。60名儿童分别在标准条件和简化条件下阅读一个故事，在标准条件下使用一本市面上常见的读物，在简化条件下则去除了无关插图，同时用眼动仪记录儿童的视线从文本上移开的情况、对无关插图的注视以及对相关插图的注视。无关插图引发了注意力竞争并阻碍了阅读理解：与简化条件相比，儿童在标准条件下视线从文本上移开的次数更多，并且与标准条件相比，简化条件下的阅读理解显著更高。重要的是，对无关细节的注视在控制了阅读能力和对相关插图的关注后，解释了阅读理解中的独特差异。此外，一项后续对照实验（60名儿童）表明，这些效应并非仅仅源于简化条件下文本显著性的提高，并且再次证实了对无关细节的注视与阅读理解之间存在负相关的发现。本研究提供了证据，表明可以优化阅读材料的设计，以促进幼儿的读写能力发展。
