New computer apps are gaining popularity by suggesting that reading speeds can be drastically increased when eye movements that normally occur during reading are eliminated. This is done using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), where words are presented 1 at a time, thus preventing natural eye movements such as saccades, fixations, and regressions from occurring. Al- though the companies producing these apps suggest that RSVP reading does not yield comprehension deficits, research investigating the role of eye movements in reading documents shows the necessity of natural eye movements for accurate comprehension. The current study explored variables that may affect reading comprehension during RSVP reading, including text difficulty (6th grade and 12th grade), text presentation speed (static, 700 wpm, and 1,000 wpm), and working memory capacity (WMC). Consistent with recent work showing a tenuous relationship between comprehension and WMC, participants' WMC did not predict comprehension scores. Instead, comprehension was most affected by reading speed: Static text was associated with superior performance, relative to either RSVP reading condition. Furthermore, slower RSVP speeds yielded better verbatim comprehension, and faster speeds benefited inferential comprehension.

中文翻译：

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现代速读应用程序无法提高阅读理解力。

通过消除在阅读过程中通常发生的眼球运动，可以显着提高阅读速度，从而使新的计算机应用程序越来越受欢迎。这是通过快速串行视觉呈现（RSVP）来完成的，其中一次显示1个单词，从而防止出现自然的眼球运动，例如扫视，注视和消退。尽管生产这些应用程序的公司表示，RSVP阅读不会产生理解能力上的不足，但是调查眼动在阅读文档中的作用的研究表明，自然眼动对于准确理解是必要的。当前的研究探讨了可能影响RSVP阅读过程中阅读理解的变量，包括文本难度（6年级和12年级），文本显示速度（静态，700 wpm和1,000 wpm），和工作内存容量（WMC）。与最近的研究表明理解力和WMC之间存在微弱的关系相一致，参与者的WMC并未预测理解力得分。取而代之的是，理解力受阅读速度的影响最大：相对于任一RSVP阅读条件，静态文本都具有出色的性能。此外，较低的RSVP速度会产生更好的逐字理解，而较快的速度会有助于推理性理解。