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Readability formulas are criticized because they do not consider the contributions of the readers' background or expertise and ignore the meaning and content of texts. A new approach is proposed based on the analysis of texts as causally connected chains of actions, physical states, and mental states. A formula for measuring the inference load of texts is presented which uses multiple regression techniques. The inference load of texts reflects the difficulty readers have in inferring the causal connections necessary to recover the event chains underlying the texts. Using the inference load formula, the difficulty of texts can be adjusted for ...

Readability formulas are criticized because they do not consider the contributions of the readers' background or expertise and ignore the meaning and content of texts. A new approach is proposed based on the analysis of texts as causally connected chains of actions, physical states, and mental states. A formula for measuring the inference load of texts is presented which uses multiple regression techniques. The inference load of texts reflects the difficulty readers have in inferring the causal connections necessary to recover the event chains underlying the texts. Using the inference load formula, the difficulty of texts can be adjusted for ...

Three studies evaluated different varieties of elderspeak using a referential communication task. Experiment 1 compared the effects of syntactic simplifications and semantic elaborations. Experiment 2 contrasted syntactic simplifications and prosodic exaggerations. Experiment 3 contrasted 2 different syntactic simplification strategies and 2 different prosodic exaggerations. Providing semantic elaborations and reducing the use of subordinate and embedded clauses benefit older adults and improve their performance on the referential communication task, whereas reducing sentence length, slowing speaking rate, and using high pitch do not. The use of short sentences, a slow rate of speaking, and high pitch resulted in older adults' reporting more ...

Three studies evaluated different varieties of elderspeak using a referential communication task. Experiment 1 compared the effects of syntactic simplifications and semantic elaborations. Experiment 2 contrasted syntactic simplifications and prosodic exaggerations. Experiment 3 contrasted 2 different syntactic simplification strategies and 2 different prosodic exaggerations. Providing semantic elaborations and reducing the use of subordinate and embedded clauses benefit older adults and improve their performance on the referential communication task, whereas reducing sentence length, slowing speaking rate, and using high pitch do not. The use of short sentences, a slow rate of speaking, and high pitch resulted in older adults' reporting more ...

Three studies evaluated different varieties of elderspeak using a referential communication task. Experiment 1 compared the effects of syntactic simplifications and semantic elaborations. Experiment 2 contrasted syntactic simplifications and prosodic exaggerations. Experiment 3 contrasted 2 different syntactic simplification strategies and 2 different prosodic exaggerations. Providing semantic elaborations and reducing the use of subordinate and embedded clauses benefit older adults and improve their performance on the referential communication task, whereas reducing sentence length, slowing speaking rate, and using high pitch do not. The use of short sentences, a slow rate of speaking, and high pitch resulted in older adults' reporting more ...

The effects of a memory load on syntactic processing by younger and older adults were examined. Participants were asked to remember a noun phrase (NP) memory load while they read sentences varying in syntactic complexity. Two types of NPs were used as memory loads: proper names or definite descriptions referring to occupations or roles. The NPs used in the sentence and memory load either matched (e.g., all proper names or all occupations), or they mismatched. Participants read complex sentences more slowly than they did simpler sentences; for young adults, this complexity effect was exacerbated when memory interference was generated by ...

The causes of difficulties in older adults' reading ability are examined. Eighteen texts from a wide range of published material were analyzed for variation along parameters of complexity, including mean sentence length (in words), propositional density, the number of syntactic clauses per sentence, & developmental level. Ss (N = 60, aged 62-90) read the texts aloud & answered multiple-choice questions. Reading times were converted to words-per-minute rates. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated the significance of working memory & verbal ability & an important significant effect of both developmental level & propositional density on comrehension & reading rates. Suggestions on text ...

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of advance organizers and repeating a lecture on test performance. Participants viewed a videotaped lecture about the process of radar once, twice, or three times. Before each viewing, they studied one of three different advance organizers - a conventional organizer that summarized the main steps of the radar process as a list, a linear organizer that summarized the steps and subordinate information in outline form, and a matrix organizer that summarized the steps and subordinate information in matrix form. Repeated presentations of the lecture increased note taking, recognition of isolated facts, and ...

Comprehension difficulty was rated for metaphors of the form NOUN1 IS A NOUN2; in addition, participants completed frames of the form NOUN1 IS ------ with their literal interpretation of the metaphor. Metaphor comprehension was simulated with a computational model based on latent semantic analysis (LSA). The model matched participants' interpretations for both easy and difficult metaphors. When interpreting easy metaphors, both the participants and the model generated highly consistent responses. When interpreting difficult metaphors, both the participants and the model generated disparate responses. ...

In 2 experiments, 72 university students read 10 essays that were written in either good or bad rhetorical form. In their good form, the essays closely followed familiar rhetorical schemata (such as definition and procedural description) with explicit cues to alert readers to their structure. In the bad form, these cues were deleted, and the actual order of paragraphs deviated from the ideal rhetorical form. The content, however, remained the same for both forms of a text. Performance differed, depending on whether tests were used that evaluated macro- or microprocesses (global or local comprehension). Ss were much better able to ...