The interactive effect of working memory and text difficulty on metacomprehension accuracy

Abstract

We investigated how working memory capacity (WMC) and text difficulty affect metacomprehension accuracy. Participants completed the operation-span test to measure WMC and ability to read expository texts. Under the easy-text condition, participants read 4 texts with increasing local cohesion, whereas under the difficult-text condition, participants read 4 original texts. Participants assigned a comprehension rating to each text and then completed a comprehension test. The results revealed a significant interactive effect of WMC and text difficulty on metacomprehension accuracy in Experiments 1 and 2. Under the easy-text condition, higher-WMC readers monitored their comprehension less accurately than did lower-WMC readers. In contrast, higher-WMC readers monitored their comprehension more accurately than did lower-WMC readers under the difficult-text condition. These results suggest that text difficulty may affect allocation of attentional resources.