EPISODICALLY ENHANCED COMPREHENSION FLUENCY

Fluent reading comprehension was explored in a series of experiments i nvolving sentences presented in normal and inverted typography. Senten ces read in a test phase had been read earlier in exactly the same for m, or in versions that were created by (a) altering the word order wit hin sentences to create randomly ordered word strings or (b) exchangin g causally related clauses to form new meaningful sentences. Variation from exact repetition of word order or clause combination increased t he time taken to read the test sentences and these effects were eviden t over retention intervals ranging from one day to four months. Varyin g word order across repeated presentations of a sentence was also show n to reduce reporting accuracy in a rapid serial reading task. These r esults support an episodic view of the basis for rereading fluency in which comprehension processes responsible for constructing and integra ting propositions are automatically recruited and reapplied when a sen tence is reread.