Reading comprehension has been mostly studied using traditional texts and very little is known about reading comprehension in comics. We wanted to find out whether comics could enhance comprehension processes, compared to traditional text and what cognitive processes might be involved in this effect. Furthermore, we explored the functional role of…

Previous research showed that sensorimotor information affects the perception of properties associated with implied perceptual context during language comprehension. Three experiments addressed a novel question of whether perceptual context may contribute to a simulation of information about such out-of-sight objects as cast shadows. In Experiment…

While the effects of pattern learning on language processing are well known, the way in which pattern learning shapes exploratory behavior has long gone unnoticed. We report on the way in which individual differences in statistical pattern learning affect performance in the domain of language along multiple dimensions. Analyzing data from healthy…

This study investigated visual statistical learning (VSL) in 24 deaf signers and 24 hearing non-signers. Previous research with hearing individuals suggests that SL mechanisms support literacy. Our first goal was to assess whether VSL was associated with reading ability in deaf individuals, and whether this relation was sustained by a link between…

We demonstrate in two experiments that real and imagined body movements appropriate to metaphorical phrases facilitate people's immediate comprehension of these phrases. Participants first learned to make different body movements given specific cues. In two reading time studies, people were faster to understand a metaphorical phrase, such as push…

A growing body of empirical and theoretical work indicates that young children (grades K-3) have difficulties solving word problems because of deficient language and text comprehension strategies. Describes a computer simulation designed to model working memory demands in "bottom-up" comprehension of arithmetic word problems, offering a…