Information-processing differences of college-age readers differing in reading comprehension and speed

Abstract

The present study examined information-processing differences among four types of readers, specifically high comprehension–high speed, high comprehension–low speed, low comprehension–high speed, and low comprehension–low speed college-age readers. Performance was compared on a variety of information-processing tasks, including letter reordering, word reordering, reading span, verification of real words and nonwords, and verification of real sentences and nonsense sentences. Tasks were categorized as lower order tasks involving reaction time and/or elementary-word tasks, or higher order tasks requiring access of word meanings or semantic decision-making. Results indicated that good comprehenders tended to outperform poor comprehenders on all types of tasks. Although high-and low-speed readers performed differentially on some tasks, the pattern of results is less clear. Performance on tasks was discussed in light of speed and comprehension variables and type of information-processing task. Differences in working memory were proposed as a source of individual differences in reading performance. © 1993, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.