SELF-PACED VERSUS FAST-PACED READING RATES AND THEIR EFFECT ON COMPREHENSION AND EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS

Fifteen college-level readers (2 men and 13 women) were given 34 passa ges from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) for reading . During reading, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from t he midline sites (Fz, Cz, and Pz) of the participants' scalps. The fir st 17 passages were read by the participants at their own natural rate (self-paced condition). The second 17 passages were read at a fast-pa ced rate determined by the fastest reading rate recorded on an adequat ely comprehended trial from the preceding passages. Results indicated that accelerating reading rate increased the readers' comprehension. A dditionally, the increase in reading rate and improvement in comprehen sion were reflected in the ERP measures. This finding confirms this st udy's assumption that there is a disparity between reading ability and routine performance, and that this disparity is manifested in measure s of neurocognitive functioning as reflected by the ERPs. Specifically , the ERP waveforms discriminated not only reading rate (specifically manifested by differences in speed of processing), but also the level of comprehension attained by the participants.