Background: Mind wandering-that is, a shift in the contents of thought away from an ongoing task-can have detrimental consequences for students' reading comprehension. To date, no evidence is available on the effects of text-to-speech solutions on rates of mind wandering during reading.Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate the effects of text-to-speech technology on frequency of mind wandering and reading comprehension in young students with dyslexia (20) and typical development (50).Methods: Students were presented, on a personal computer, texts and comprehension questions in two modalities: self-paced silent reading and text-to-speech reading. Comprehension scores and mind wandering occurrence were considered. A battery of cognitive tasks and questionnaires on mind wandering and emotional traits was also included.Results: There were no differences in baseline rates of mind wandering between the two groups. In the text-to-speech condition, both groups showed better reading comprehension and reduced rates of mind wandering. Students with dyslexia were significantly more on task in the text-to-speech condition compared to the self-paced reading condition.Implications: These results suggest that text-to-speech might represent a reading solution that allows students with Dyslexia to diminish mind wandering during textto-speech reading.
Mind wandering (MW), a shift of attention away from external tasks toward internally generated thoughts, has been frequently associated with costs in reading comprehension (RC), although with some contrasting results and many reported potential intervening factors. The aim of the meta-analysis was to evaluate the relationship between MW and RC, considering the role of participants’ and text’s characteristics, as well as methodological issues in the measurement of the two constructs. From a set of 25 selected full texts (73 correlation coefficients), pooled correlation (r = −0.21) revealed a negative significant relationship. Using trait-based questionnaires to assess MW compared with online probes resulted in an average significant change of 0.30 in the correlation between MW and RC, leading to a null correlation. A significant effect of age was also found, with more negative correlations with increasing age. None of the other moderating variables considered (i.e., language, text type, text length, RC assessment, text difficulty, text interest, and working memory) resulted in a significant effect. From the present meta-analysis, we might suggest that MW and RC are partially overlapping and vary, within a swing effect, in relation to a set of shared factors, such as working memory, interest, and text length. There might also be side-specific factors that drive the movement of primarily one side of the swing, and future research should further consider the role of individual differences in RC. Implications for research and educational settings are discussed.
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