Does Emotion Influence Reading Comprehension? It Depends on the Task

• In Event: Putting Tasks Under the Microscope: Task Features Triggering Emotions and Modulating Their Effects on Learning

Abstract

Objectives

This first presentation will introduce the symposium with an overview of theories considering task features and emotion. We will then present our analysis of reading research using the lens of task features as modulators between emotion and comprehension.

Theoretical Framework

Readers' understandings of task requirements play a crucial role in their text processing (Rouet et al., 2017; Kendeou et al., 2011; McCrudden & Schraw, 2007; van den Broek et al., 2011). The RESOLV model (Rouet et al., 2017) describes how reading processes and outcomes are influenced by readers’ interpretations of task demands and contextual cues (including physical, social, and emotional cues). Emotion researchers have documented how certain cognitive processes are influenced by emotion, and they have addressed the conditions under which emotions influence learning (Bohn-Gettler, 2019; Fiedler & Beier, 2014; Forgas, 1995). One conclusion is that affect is most likely to influence processing when the task requires constructive processing (Forgas, 1995).

In this project, we aimed to bring together these two traditions: (1) how task instructions are interpreted and influence reading, and (2) the conditions under which emotion influences learning. Studies examining text comprehension often conceptualize tasks either as supporting situation model construction (e.g., drawing inferences) or text-based processes (e.g., rehearsal). However, research examining emotion and reading has not systematically considered whether the reading tasks encouraged readers to engage in constructive processing, and this may explain inconsistencies in results (Bohn-Gettler, 2019).

Methods and Data Sources

We used the PsycInfo and ERIC databases to conduct a systematic review of studies examining reading and emotion. The search terms “emotion or mood,” and “reading comprehension or text comprehension or discourse comprehension or refutation text or discourse processes” yielded 494 results. From these results, we examined abstracts to identify studies examining the reader’s emotional state and its impact on reading processes and outcomes. This resulted in 86 references, which, when checked against inclusion criteria, resulted in 40 studies.

Results and Conclusions

Each study was coded for the emotion under examination, and whether the tasks were constructive, not constructive, or “unclear” (Forgas, 1995). For example, a simple recall of a text would be considered less constructive than building an argument (see Table 1).

Although there were differences across studies in terms of the impact of emotion on processes, our analysis indicated that emotions were most likely to influence reading when tasks required constructive processes. However, our analysis also highlighted a challenge: Many studies examining reading do not specify the nature of the comprehension tasks or questions, such as whether they required inferences (constructive) or recall of details (non-constructive).

Significance

Theoretically, researchers must consider and report on specific task features in order to understand the effects of emotion on reading (Bohn-Gettler, 2019). This study provides a first systematic review of research on emotion and text comprehension to consider how task features may determine the conditions under which emotions influence reading processes and products. Practically, educators can consider the features of academic settings and tasks to provide appropriate instruction that is responsive to learners’ emotions.

Authors

• Catherine M. Bohn-Gettler, College of Saint Benedict
  Presenting Author

• Johanna Kaakinen, University of Turku
  Non-Presenting Author