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Along with her faculty mentor, Jennifer Stiegler-Balfour, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychology, student Zoe Roberts (Psychology, ’17) recently presented at the 2017 Eastern Psychological Association’s annual conference in Boston.

The presented research examined the impact of technology on reading comprehension. While research has studied memory for text and has yielded mixed results of the impact technology has on one’s ability to remember what one has read, the reading literature has yet to examine comprehension.

In comparing reading from a computer, iPad or paper, the results from the current study showed that skilled- and less-skilled readers’ comprehension levels and reading speed were impacted differently by reading from the different mediums. Specifically, reading times and recall data indicated that skilled readers compensated for difficulties with comprehension by reducing their reading speed when presented with text in digital mediums, whereas less-skilled readers did not adapt their reading strategy and, thus, their comprehension suffered. These results suggest that effective reading can occur in a variety of mediums but that it may require the reader to adjust his or her reading strategy.

Zoe Roberts is a graduating senior in psychology and will be attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to earn a Ph.D. in School Psychology starting in fall of 2017. 

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