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Cited by 32Mind wandering and attentionReading and Literacy DevelopmentFlow Experience in Various Fields

Mind wandering increases linearly with text difficulty

Open access
Kahmann, Rebecca, Ozuer, Yesim, Zedelius, Claire M., Bijleveld, Erik·2022·Psychological Research
DOI 10.1007/s00426-021-01483-9PMC PMC8821482
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Abstract

Although mind wandering during reading is known to be affected by text difficulty, the nature of this relationship is not yet fully understood. To examine this issue, we conducted an experiment in which participants read non-fiction texts that varied along five levels of difficulty under naturalistic conditions. Difficulty levels were determined based on Flesch–Kincaid Grade Levels and verified with Coh–Metrix indices. Mind wandering was measured with thought probes. We predicted that text difficulty and mind wandering have a U-shaped (i.e., quadratic) relationship. Contrary to our expectations, but in line with some prior studies, mind wandering linearly increased with text difficulty. Additionally, text interest moderated the effect of text difficulty on mind wandering. Finally, mind wandering was associated with worse performance on a comprehension test. Together, our findings extend previous work by showing that (a) a linear relationship between difficulty and mind wandering exists during common page-by-page reading of pre-existing texts and that (b) this relationship holds across a broad range of difficulty levels.

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  • We did not control for a variety of intervening factors that may influence both reading comprehension and mind wandering in typical readers, such as topic interest and text difficulty.

    “Third, we did not control for a variety of intervening factors that may influence both reading comprehension and MW in typical readers, such as topic interest and text difficulty”

    From Text‐to‐speech applications to reduce mind wandering in students with dyslexia (2022) · cites this paper as Kahmann et al., 2021

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Kahmann, R., Ozuer, Y., Zedelius, C. M., & Bijleveld, E.
Affiliations
  • Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
  • University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
Corresponding author
Kahmann, Rebecca
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Research
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-02-12
Volume
86
Issue
1
Pages
284-293
ISSN
  • 0033-3026 (ISSN-L)
  • 0340-0727
  • 1430-2772
DOI
10.1007/s00426-021-01483-9
PMC
PMC8821482
OpenAlex
W3126729819
Cited by
32
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 1
FWCI
2.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Psychological Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (016-165-100)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Flow Experience in Various Fields
Keywords
mind wandering, text complexity, reading comprehension, U-shaped relationship, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Coh-Metrix, thought probes, naturalistic reading, non-fiction texts
MeSH terms
Attention, Data Collection, Humans, Reading, Comprehension

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