Increased Reading Time Research Articles

Organizational impact of systemic implementation of digital breast tomosynthesis as a primary test for breast cancer screening in Italy.

We present a comprehensive investigation into the organizational, social, and ethical impact of implementing digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) as a primary test for breast cancer screening in Italy. The analyses aimed to assess the feasibility of DBT specifically for all women aged 45-74, women aged 45-49 only, or those with dense breasts only. Questions were framed according to the European Network of Health Technology Assessment (EuNetHTA) Screening Core Model to produce evidence for the resources, equity, acceptability, and feasibility domains of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) decision framework. The study integrated evidence from the literature, the MAITA DBT trials, and Italian pilot programs. Structured interviews, surveys, and systematic reviews were conducted to gather data on organizational impact, acceptability among women, reading and acquisition times, and the technical requirements of DBT in screening. Implementing DBT could significantly affect the screening program, primarily due to increased reading times and the need for additional human resources (radiologists and radiographers). Participation rates in DBT screening were similar, if not better, to those observed with standard digital mammography, indicating good acceptability among women. The study also highlighted the necessity for specific training for radiographers. The interviewed key persons unanimously considered feasible tailored screening strategies based on breast density or age, but they require effective communication with the target population. An increase in radiologists' and radiographers' workload limits the feasibility of DBT screening. Tailored screening strategies may maximize the benefits of DBT while mitigating potential challenges.

Automated Detection of Steno-Occlusive Lesion on Time-of-Flight MR Angiography: An Observer Performance Study.

Intracranial steno-occlusive lesions are responsible for acute ischemic stroke. However, the clinical benefits of artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods for detecting pathologic lesions in intracranial arteries have not been evaluated. We aimed to validate the clinical utility of an AI model for detecting steno-occlusive lesions in the intracranial arteries. Overall, 138 TOF-MRA images were collected from 2 institutions, which served as internal (n = 62) and external (n = 76) test sets, respectively. Each study was reviewed by 5 radiologists (2 neuroradiologists and 3 radiology residents) to compare the usage and nonusage of our proposed AI model for TOF-MRA interpretation. They identified the steno-occlusive lesions and recorded their reading time. Observer performance was assessed by using the area under the jackknife free-response receiver operating characteristic curve (AUFROC) and reading time for comparison. The average AUFROC for the 5 radiologists demonstrated an improvement from 0.70 without AI to 0.76 with AI (P = .027). Notably, this improvement was most pronounced among the 3 radiology residents, whose performance metrics increased from 0.68 to 0.76 (P = .002). Despite an increased reading time by using AI, there was no significant change among the readings by radiology residents. Moreover, the use of AI resulted in improved interobserver agreement among the reviewers (the intraclass correlation coefficient increased from 0.734 to 0.752). Our proposed AI model offers a supportive tool for radiologists, potentially enhancing the accuracy of detecting intracranial steno-occlusion lesions on TOF-MRA. Less experienced readers may benefit the most from this model.

Feasibility study comparing synthesized mammography with digital breast tomosynthesis and digital mammography for simulated first round screening in a single BreastScreen NSW centre.

While digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has proven to enhance cancer detection and reduce recall rates (RR), its integration into BreastScreen Australia for screening has been limited, in part due to perceived cost implications. This study aims to assess the cost effectiveness of digital mammography (DM) compared with synthesized mammography and DBT (SM + DBT) in a first round screening context for short-term outcomes. Clients recalled for nonspecific density (NSD) as a single lesion by both readers at the Northern Sydney Central Coast BreastScreen service in 2019 were included. Prior images were excluded to simulate first-round screening. Eleven radiologists read DM and synthesized mammography with DBT (SM + DBT) images 4 weeks apart. Recall rates (RR), reading time, and diagnostic parameters were measured, and costs for screen reading and assessment were calculated. Among 65 clients studied, 13 were diagnosed with cancer, with concordant cancer recalls. SM + DBT reduced recall rates (RR), increased reading time, maintained cancer detection sensitivity, and significantly improved other diagnostic parameters, particularly false positive rates. Benign biopsy recalls remained equivalent. While SM + DBT screen reading cost was significantly higher than DM (DM AU$890 ± 186 vs SM + DBT AU$1279 ± 265; P < 0.001), the assessment cost (DM AU$29,504 ± 9427 vs SM + DBT AU$18,021 ± 5606; P < 0.001), and combined screen reading and assessment costs were significantly lower (DM AU$30,394 ± 9508 vs SM + DBT AU$19,300 ± 5721; P = 0.001). SM + DBT screen reading and assessment of 65 patients resulted in noteworthy cost savings (AU$11,094), equivalent to assessing 12 additional clients. In first round screening, DBT yields significant cost savings by effectively reducing unnecessary recalls to assessment while maintaining diagnostic efficacy.

Lesion detection in digital breast tomosynthesis: human reader experiments indicate no benefit from the integration of information from multiple planes.

In digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), radiologists need to review a stack of 20 to 80 tomosynthesis images, depending upon breast size. This causes a significant increase in reading time. However, it is currently unknown whether there is a perceptual benefit to viewing a mass in the 3D tomosynthesis volume. To answer this question, this study investigated whether adjacent lesion-containing planes provide additional information that aids lesion detection for DBT-like and breast CT-like (bCT) images. Human reader detection performance was determined for low-contrast targets shown in a single tomosynthesis image at the center of the target (2D) or shown in the entire tomosynthesis image stack (3D). Using simulations, targets embedded in simulated breast backgrounds, and images were generated using a DBT-like (50deg angular range) and a bCT-like (180deg angular range) imaging geometry. Experiments were conducted with spherical and capsule-shaped targets. Eleven readers reviewed 1600 images in two-alternative forced-choice experiments. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and reading time were computed for the 2D and 3D reading modes for the DBT and bCT imaging geometries and for both target shapes. Spherical lesion detection was higher in 2D mode than in 3D, for both DBT- and bCT-like images (DBT: , , ; bCT: , , ), but equivalent for capsule-shaped signals (DBT: , , ; bCT: , , ). Average reading time was up to 134% higher for 3D viewing (). For the detection of low-contrast lesions, there is no inherent visual perception benefit to reviewing the entire DBT or bCT stack. The findings of this study could have implications for the development of 2D synthetic mammograms: a single synthesized 2D image designed to include all lesions present in the volume might allow readers to maintain detection performance at a significantly reduced reading time.

The performance of digital chest radiographs in the detection and diagnosis of pulmonary nodules and the consistency among readers

Objective: To investigate the detection and diagnostic efficacy of chest radiographs for ≤30 mm pulmonary nodules and the factors affecting them, and to compare the level of consistency among readers. Methods: A total of 43 patients with asymptomatic pulmonary nodules who consulted in Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from 2012 to 2014 and had chest CT and X-ray chest radiographs during the same period were retrospectively selected, and one nodule ≤30 mm was visible on chest CT images in the whole group (total 43 nodules in the whole group). One senior radiologist with more than 20 years of experience in imaging diagnosis reviewed CT images and recording the size, morphology, location, and density of nodules was selected retrospectively. Six radiologists with different levels of experience (2 residents, 2 attending physicians and 2 associate chief physicians independently reviewed the chest images and recorded the time of review, nodule detection, and diagnostic opinion. The CT imaging characteristics of detected and undetected nodules on X images were compared, and the factors affecting the detection of nodules on X-ray images were analyzed. Detection sensitivity and diagnosis accuracy rate of 6 radiologists were calculated, and the level of consistency among them was compared to analyze the influence of radiologists' seniority and reading time on the diagnosis results. Results: The number of nodules detected by all 6 radiologists was 17, with a sensitivity of detection of 39.5%(17/43). The number of nodules detected by ≥5, ≥4, ≥3, ≥2, and ≥1 physicians was 20, 21, 23, 25, and 28 nodules, respectively, with detection sensitivities of 46.5%, 48.8%, 53.5%, 58.1%, and 65.1%, respectively. Reasons for false-negative result of detection on X-ray images included the size, location, density, and morphology of the nodule. The sensitivity of detecting ≤30 mm, ≤20 mm, ≤15 mm, and ≤10 mm nodules was 46.5%-58.1%, 45.9%-54.1%, 36.0%-44.0%, and 36.4% for the 6 radiologists, respectively; the diagnosis accuracy rate was 19.0%-85.0%, 16.7%-6.5%, 18.2%-80.0%, and 0%-75.0%, respectively. The consistency of nodule detection among 6 doctors was good (Kappa value: 0.629-0.907) and the consistency of diagnostic results among them was moderate or poor (Kappa value: 0.350-0.653). The higher the radiologist's seniority, the shorter the time required to read the images. The reading time and the seniority of the radiologists had no significant influence on the detection and diagnosis results (P>0.05). Conclusions: The ability of radiographs to detect lung nodules ≤30 mm is limited, and the ability to determine the nature of the nodules is not sufficient, and the increase in reading time and seniority of the radiologists will not improve the diagnostic accuracy. X-ray film exam alone is not suitable for lung cancer diagnosis.

Bilingual processing of case-marking and locative verbs in Korean: Use of L2-unique information

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Previous studies show conflicting findings regarding bilingual processing of target information not instantiated in learners’ first language. The current study addresses this issue by investigating whether Chinese speakers can integrate case-marking information, which is unique to Korean, with locative verb information in their processing of the Korean locative constructions. Design/methodology/approach: We conducted an acceptability judgment task to assess Chinese–Korean bilinguals’ explicit knowledge of case-marking constraints on Korean locative constructions, and a self-paced reading task to probe their application of the knowledge to real-time sentence processing. Data and analysis: Twenty-four advanced Chinese–Korean bilinguals’ acceptability judgments and reading times were compared with those of 24 Korean monolingual speakers, using mixed-effects regression modeling. Findings/conclusions: Results from the offline acceptability judgment task revealed the bilinguals’ native-like judgment patterns. Both Korean monolingual and Chinese–Korean bilinguals rejected sentences with wrong case-marking sequences paired with locative verbs. In the self-paced reading task, both monolingual and bilingual speakers showed increased reading times when a mismatch arose between case-marking and locative verb information, indicating their sensitivity to locative agreement violations. Originality: While previous studies have investigated bilinguals’ integration of multiple sources of information, this study adds a new perspective to this issue by testing whether bilinguals can use L2-unique information (i.e., case marking) to integrate it with other types of information (i.e., locative verbs) for sentence processing. Significance/implications: Our findings are consistent with the competition model which predicts that L2-unique information presents little processing difficulty for bilinguals. At the same time, the current results lend credence to the idea that increased proficiency allows bilinguals to integrate multiple information sources during processing.

Insights from a dyslexia simulation font: Can we simulate reading struggles of individuals with dyslexia?

Individuals with dyslexia struggle at explaining what it is like to have dyslexia and how they perceive letters and words differently. This led the designer Daniel Britton to create a font that aims to simulate the perceptual experience of how effortful reading can be for individuals with dyslexia (http://danielbritton.info/dyslexia). This font removes forty percent of each character stroke with the aim of increasing reading effort, and in turn empathy and understanding for individuals with dyslexia. However, its efficacy has not yet been empirically tested. In the present study, we compared participants without dyslexia reading texts in the dyslexia simulation font to a group of individuals with dyslexia reading the same texts in Times New Roman font. Results suggest that the simulation font amplifies the struggle of reading, surpassing that experienced by adults with dyslexia-as reflected in increased reading time and overall number of eye movements in the majority of typical readers reading in the simulation font. Future research could compare the performance of the Daniel Britton simulation font against a sample of beginning readers with dyslexia as well as seek to design and empirically test an adapted simulation font with an increased preserved percentage of letter strokes [Correction added on 10 December 2021, after initial online publication. Abstract has been added].

The effect of audio-support on strategy, time, and performance on reading comprehension in secondary school students with dyslexia

The use of adequate reading comprehension strategies is important to read efficiently. Students with dyslexia not only read slower and less accurately, they also use fewer reading comprehension strategies. To compensate for their decoding problems, they often receive audio-support (narration written text). However, audio-support linearly guides readers from beginning to end through texts, possibly hindering the use of reading comprehension strategies in expository texts and negatively impacting reading time and reading comprehension performance. We examined to what extent audio-support affects reading comprehension strategies, reading times, and reading comprehension performance in 21 secondary school students with dyslexia and 22 typically developing controls. Participants were provided with three types of assignments (summarizing, open-ended questions, statement questions) in each condition (written text with and without audio-support). SMI RED-500 eye tracker captured eye movements during reading. The standard deviation of the weighted fixation duration times on the three paragraphs was considered indicative of the disparity of readers’ attention within the text. Following a discrimination based on experts’ reading behavior and hand-coded validation, these scores visualized whether students used the intensive reading strategy (reading whole text) or selective reading strategy (focusing on part of the text). In open-ended assignments, students divided their attention more over the whole text instead of focusing on one specific part when audio was added. In addition, audio-support increased reading time in students with and without dyslexia in most tasks, while in neither of the tasks audio-support affected reading comprehension performance. Audio-support impacts reading comprehension strategy and reading time in all students.

The Role of Connectives and Stance Markers in the Processing of Subjective Causal Relations

ABSTRACT Interpreting subjectivity in causal relations takes effort: Subjective, claim-argument relations are read slower than objective, cause-consequence relations. In an eye-tracking-while-reading experiment, we investigated whether connectives and stance markers can play a facilitative role. Sixty-five Chinese participants read sentences expressing a subjective causal relation, systematically varied in the use of stance markers (no, attitudinal, epistemic) in the first clause and connectives (neutral suoyi “so”, subjective kejian “so”) in the second clause. Results showed that processing subjectivity proceeds highly incrementally: The interplay of the subjectivity markers is visible as the sentence unfolds. Subjective connectives increased reading times, irrespective of the type of stance marker being used. Stance markers did, however, facilitate the processing of modal verbs in subjective relations. We conclude that processing subjectivity involves evaluating how the argument supports the claim and that connectives, modal verbs, and stance markers function as processing instructions that help readers achieve this evaluation.

Impact of spectral body imaging in patients suspected for occult cancer: a prospective study of 503 patients

ObjectivesTo investigate the diagnostic impact and performance of spectral dual-layer detector CT in the detection and characterization of cancer compared to conventional CE-CT.MethodsIn a national workup program for occult cancer, 503 patients (286 females and 217 males) were prospectively enrolled for a contrast-enhanced spectral CT scan. The readings were performed with and without spectral data available. A minimum of 3 months between interpretations was implemented to minimize recall bias. The sequence of reads for the individual patient was randomized. Readers were blinded for patient identifiers and clinical outcome. Two radiologists with 9 and 33 years of experience performed the readings in consensus. If disagreement, a third radiologist with 11 years of experience determined the outcome of the readingResultsSignificantly more cancer findings were identified on the spectral reading. In 73 cases of proven cancer, we found a sensitivity of 89% vs 77% and a specificity of 77% vs 83% on spectral CT compared to conventional CT. A slight increase in reading time in spectral images of 82 s was found (382 vs 300, p < 0.001). For all cystic lesions, the perceived diagnostic certainty increased from 30% being completely certain to 96% most pronounced in the kidney, liver, thyroid, and ovaries. And adding the spectral information to the reading gave a decrease in follow-up examination for diagnostic certainty (0.25 vs 0.81 per reading, p < 0.001).ConclusionThe use of contrast-enhanced spectral CT increases the confidence of the radiologists in correct characterization of various lesions and minimizes the need for supplementary examinations.Key Points• Spectral CT is associated with a higher sensitivity, but a slightly lower specificity compared to conventional CT.• Spectral CT increases the confidence of the radiologists.• The need for supplementary examinations is decreased, with only a slight increase in reading times.

Comparing two visualization protocols for tomosynthesis in screening: specificity and sensitivity of slabs versus planes plus slabs.

Tomosynthesis (DBT) has proven to be more sensitive than digital mammography, but it requires longer reading time. We retrospectively compared accuracy and reading times of a simplified protocol with 1-cm-thick slabs versus a standard protocol of slabs + 1-mm-spaced planes, both integrated with synthetic 2D. We randomly selected 894 DBTs (including 12 cancers) from the experimental arm of the RETomo trial. DBTs were read by two radiologists to estimate specificity. A second set of 24 cancers (8 also present in the first set) mixed within 276 negative DBTs was read by two radiologists. In total, 28 cancers with 64 readings were used to estimate sensitivity. Radiologists read with both protocols separated by a 3-month washout. Only women that were positive at the screening reading were assessed. Variance was estimated taking into account repeated measures. Sensitivity was 82.8% (53/64, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 67.2-92.2) and 90.6% (95% CI 80.2-95.8) with simplified and standard protocols, respectively. In the random screening setting, specificity was 97.9% (1727/1764, 95% CI 97.1-98.5) and 96.3% (95% CI 95.3-97.1), respectively. Inter-reader agreement was 0.68 and 0.54 with simplified and standard protocols, respectively. Median reading times with simplified protocol were 20% to 30% shorter than with standard protocol. A simplified protocol reduced reading time and false positives but may have a negative impact on sensitivity. • The adoption of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) in screening, more sensitive than mammography, could be limited by its potential effect on the radiologists' workload, i.e., increased reading time and fatigue. • A DBT simplified protocol with slab only, compared to a standard protocol (slab plus planes) both integrated with synthetic 2D, reduced time and false positives but had a negative impact on sensitivity.

I'm done my homework: Complement Coercion and Aspectual Adjectives in Canadian English

Self-paced reading and eye-tracking studies have generally found that combining aspectual verbs (like ‘begin’ and ‘finish’) with entity nouns (like ‘the book’ or ‘the coffee’) is associated with increased reading times on and around the noun (McElree et al. 2001; Traxler et al. 2002; Pickering et al. 2005). This processing cost is widely interpreted as evidence of complement coercion—aspectual verbs semantically select for an event (like ‘dancing’ or ‘the dance’) and can take entity objects only if they are coerced into an event through a computationally costly process of type-shifting (Pustejovsky 1995; Jackendoff 1997). This paper presents an eye-tracking study of the Canadian English ‘be done NP’ construction, e.g., ‘I am done/finished my homework’ (not to be confused with the dialect-neutral ‘I am done/finished WITH my homework’) to mean ‘I have finished my homework’. Results suggest a processing penalty for entity-denoting nouns like ‘the script’ (compared to event description nouns like ‘the audition’) in this construction, which supports Fruehwald &amp; Myler’s (2015) proposal that ‘done’ and ‘finished’ in this construction are aspectual adjectives that behave like aspectual verbs in requiring complement coercion and type-shifting for entity-denoting nouns.

Adaptation to syntactic structures in native and nonnative sentence comprehension

AbstractPrevious research suggests that native speakers quickly adapt to the properties of the language in the surrounding context. For instance, as they repeatedly read a structure that is initially nonpreferred or infrequent, they show a reduction of processing difficulty. Adaptation has been accounted for in terms of error-based learning: the error resulting from the difference between the expected and actual input leads to an adjustment of the knowledge representation, which changes future expectations. The present study tested whether experiencing an error is sufficient for adaptation. We compared native English speakers and second language (L2) learners’ processing of, and adaptation to, two types of temporarily ambiguous structures that were resolved toward the nonpreferred interpretation. Whereas both native English and L2 speakers showed increased reading times at the disambiguating word versus a nonambiguous control, our data suggest that only native English speakers adapted, and only to one of the two structures. These results suggest that experiencing an error is not sufficient for adaptation, and that factors such as ease of revision and task effects may play a role as well.

Beginning readers might benefit from digital texts presented in a sentence-by-sentence fashion. But why?

The current digital era offers many possibilities to modify the layout of a text to optimize reading and improve comprehension. Here, we examined the idea that the visuo-spatial properties of segmented layouts support beginning readers by reducing the demands of basic eye-movement processes. In a series of self-paced reading experiments, text comprehension and reading speed of second- and third-grade pupils (N = 348) were assessed in a baseline condition (i.e., sentences continued on the same line as far as page width allowed) and three conditions with a segmented layout: (1) a discontinuous layout in which each sentence was presented on a new line of the page; (2) a reader-paced Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) layout in which the texts were presented sentence by sentence; (3) a reader-paced RSVP layout in which the texts were presented word by word. No advantages were observed for the discontinuous layout. However, at the expense of increased reading times, robust comprehension advantages emerged for the two RSVP layouts. The observed trade-off between speed and accuracy suggests that a RSVP-based layout induces more precise reading, rather than reducing the demands on basic decoding and oculomotor control processes. These findings will be discussed in the context of individual differences in reading skills and several high-potential digital applications that aim at enhancing the abilities of (beginning) readers (e.g., Spritz, BeeLine Reader).

Elaborations in Expository Text Impose a Substantial Time Cost but Do Not Enhance Learning

Textbook passages commonly include elaborations (details supporting main ideas) with the assumption that elaborations will improve learning of the main ideas. However, elaborations increase text length, which subsequently increases the reading time of that text. These observations lead to the two focal questions of interest in the current study: What is the time cost imposed by including elaborations within textbooks? Does the benefit of elaborations for enhancing memory for main ideas outweigh this time cost? In three experiments, students studied elaborated versus unelaborated versions of psychology textbook passages. Two days later, students completed final tests, including cued recall for main ideas and comprehension tests. In all experiments, we found a substantial cost in terms of increased reading time for the elaborated text but no evidence of increased memory for main ideas to offset this cost. To facilitate further interpretation of the similar test performance observed for elaborated versus unelaborated texts, experiment 2 ruled out functional floor or ceiling effects and established that both text versions enhanced learning (but did so to a similar extent). These results indicate that elaborations embedded within textbook passages may not facilitate learning and that unelaborated texts may be more efficient than elaborated texts.

Easy-to-read language in disability-friendly web sites: Effects on nondisabled users

This article examines the influence of using easy-to-read language (as an important web accessibility criterion to support users with disabilities) on nondisabled users. A web site usability test was conducted with 128 nondisabled participants. Each participant evaluated one of two web site versions: conventional language vs. easy-to-read language. Measures of performance (e.g., recognition of content and reading time) and subjective user reactions (e.g., perceived usability and text liking) were taken. The results showed that easy-to-read language (compared to conventional language) led to improvements for some performance measures (e.g., recognition of content) but also to increased reading time, decreased text liking and reduced intention to revisit the web site. This article concludes that when implementing easy-to-read language in web sites, adverse as well as beneficial effects on nondisabled users need to be considered.

Clinical routine use of virtual monochromatic datasets based on spectral CT in patients with hypervascularized abdominal tumors - evaluation of effectiveness and efficiency.

Virtual monochromatic images (VMI) generated using spectral computed tomography (CT) are promising recently available tools to improve diagnostic performance in oncologic patients. To investigate if virtual monochromatic datasets are suitable for clinical routine use in patients with hypervascularized abdominal tumors. A total of 41 patients with hypervascularized hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), renal cell carcinoma (RCC), or neuroendocrine tumors (NET) were enrolled in the study; 451 CT series were analyzed. In an intra-individual study design, virtual monochromatic datasets of the arterial phase of each scan were computed. Image quality was assessed objectively by determining signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) and subjectively by using five-point Likert-scales. The volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) was taken from each radiation dose report. The increase in reading time was estimated from the increase in the number of images. Intra-individual comparison of the spectral mode in the arterial phase with the portal venous phase revealed no significant increase in the applied dose. SNR, CNRtumor-to-liver , and CNRtumor-to-muscle were significantly increased by lowering virtual monochromatic energy. Subjective image quality scores revealed an increase of contrast in low energy datasets, resulting in significantly higher diagnostic confidence, but an increased image noise at low energies. While diagnostic confidence improved, taking all datasets into account resulted in a significantly longer estimated reading time. In clinical practice, the use of low energy VMI improved diagnostic confidence without a significant increase in dose. The main disadvantage is a decrease in efficiency due to longer reading times.

The Impact of Interruptions on Chest Radiograph Interpretation: Effects on Reading Time and Accuracy

The objective of this study was to experimentally test the effect of interruptions on image interpretation by comparing reading time and response accuracy of interrupted case reads to uninterrupted case reads in resident and attending radiologists. Institutional review board approval was obtained before participant recruitment from an urban academic health-care system during January 2016-March 2016. Eleven resident and 12 attending radiologists examined 30 chest radiographs, rating their confidence regarding the presence or the absence of a pneumothorax. Ten cases were normal (ie, no pneumothorax present), 10 cases had an unsubtle pneumothorax (ie, readily perceivable by a nonexpert), and 10 cases had a subtle pneumothorax. During three reads of each case type, the participants were interrupted with 30 seconds of a secondary task. The total reading time and the accuracy of interrupted and uninterrupted cases were compared. A mixed-factors analysis of variance was run on reading time and accuracy with experience (resident vs attending) as a between-subjects factor and case type (normal, unsubtle, or subtle) and interruption (interruption vs no interruption) as within-subjects factors. Interrupted tasks had significantly longer reading times than uninterrupted cases (P = .032). During subtle cases, interruptions reduced accuracy (P = .034), but during normal cases, interruptions increased accuracy (P = .038). Interruptions increased reading times and increased the tendency for a radiologist to conclude that a case is normal for both resident and attending radiologists, demonstrating that interruptions reduce efficiency and introduce patient safety concerns during reads of abnormal cases.

Construction and updating of event models in auditory event processing.

Humans segment the continuous stream of sensory information into distinct events at points of change. Between 2 events, humans perceive an event boundary. Present theories propose changes in the sensory information to trigger updating processes of the present event model. Increased encoding effort finally leads to a memory benefit at event boundaries. Evidence from reading time studies (increased reading times with increasing amount of change) suggest that updating of event models is incremental. We present results from 5 experiments that studied event processing (including memory formation processes and reading times) using an audio drama as well as a transcript thereof as stimulus material. Experiments 1a and 1b replicated the event boundary advantage effect for memory. In contrast to recent evidence from studies using visual stimulus material, Experiments 2a and 2b found no support for incremental updating with normally sighted and blind participants for recognition memory. In Experiment 3, we replicated Experiment 2a using a written transcript of the audio drama as stimulus material, allowing us to disentangle encoding and retrieval processes. Our results indicate incremental updating processes at encoding (as measured with reading times). At the same time, we again found recognition performance to be unaffected by the amount of change. We discuss these findings in light of current event cognition theories. (PsycINFO Database Record

Retrieval cues and syntactic ambiguity resolution: speed-accuracy tradeoff evidence

ABSTRACTLanguage comprehension involves coping with ambiguity and recovering from misanalysis. Syntactic ambiguity resolution is associated with increased reading times, a classic finding that has shaped theories of sentence processing. However, reaction times conflate the time it takes a process to complete with the quality of the behavior-related information available to the system. We therefore used the speed-accuracy tradeoff procedure (SAT) to derive orthogonal estimates of processing time and interpretation accuracy, and tested whether stronger retrieval cues (via semantic relatedness: neighed->horse vs. fell->horse) aid interpretation during recovery. On average, ambiguous sentences took 250ms longer (SAT rate) to interpret than unambiguous controls, demonstrating veridical differences in processing time. Retrieval cues more strongly related to the true subject always increased accuracy, regardless of ambiguity. These findings are consistent with a language processing architecture where cue-driven operations give rise to interpretation, and wherein diagnostic cues aid retrieval, regardless of parsing difficulty or structural uncertainty.