Interrupted Reading and Working Memory Capacity

Abstract

Long-term working memory (LT-WM; Ericsson and Kintsch, 1995) theory claims that the “transient portion of working memory is not necessary for continued comprehension” (pp. 225–226) and that “reading can be completely disrupted for over 30 s with no observable impairment of subsequent text comprehension” (p. 232). Follow-up research testing claims made by LT-WM report conflicting, indirect evidence for and against the theory. The goal for this research was to use individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) to provide support for or against the theory that activation of information in working memory is necessary for successful comprehension of text. By extension, this tests predictions made by Ericsson and Kintsch's (1995) LT-WM theory. Thirty six participants with either high or low WMC (18 in each group) read prompts while interrupted or not interrupted (control), then answered recognition and comprehension questions. We found that interruptions disrupted both the recognition and comprehension of text following interrupted reading for individuals with low WMC, but not for individuals with high WMC. These results support the view that the activation of information in working memory is necessary for successful recognition and comprehension of information and argue against LT-WM theory. We also provide initial evidence that working memory capacity may have a greater effect for interrupted reading compared to uninterrupted reading.