Agenda
Romualdo Ibáñez: The Effect of Internal Complexity in Coherence Relations on Cognitive Processing: Insights from an Eye-tracking Study
This study investigates the effect of connectives on the processing and comprehension of coherence relations in struggling readers. Using eye-tracking methodology, we examined how 110 Chilean primary school students (aged 11-13 years) with low reading proficiency processed texts containing different coherence relations (additive, causal, and contrast) with and without connectives. The experimental design employed nine excerpts from Chilean textbooks, manipulated systematically in a two-by-three design (connective presence × coherence relation type), creating 54 experimental texts. Eye movement measures included total reading times, first-pass reading times, regression path duration, and regression probabilities. Comprehension was assessed through true/false statements. Results revealed distinct processing patterns across coherence relation types. For causal relations, texts without connectives elicited longer first-pass reading times but fewer regressions than texts with connectives. Contrastive relations showed an opposite pattern, with shorter first-pass reading times but more regressions in texts without connectives. Additive relations showed similar but less pronounced patterns to contrastive relations. Comprehension analyses revealed no significant main effects for connective presence or coherence relation type, though descriptive trends suggested better performance for contrastive relations with connectives. These findings indicate that connective effects are mediated by coherence relation type, suggesting that struggling readers employ different processing strategies depending on relation complexity. The study extends our understanding of connective effects beyond skilled readers, demonstrating that the relationship between processing efficiency and comprehension may be more complex than previously assumed.