Text-based and memory-based metrics of cognitive coupling

The present study was an investigation of the relation between cognitivecoupling, a correlation between text di!culty and reading time, and othermeasures of mind wandering during reading. To measure cognitive coupling,we manipulated the text di!culty of individual sentences. Because mindwandering may shift attention away from the text, we predicted cognitivecoupling, that is, that the e"ect of di!culty on processing time, should be lesswhen readers are o" task. We also manipulated the consistency of a targetsentence’s content with a prior information. Analogous to the text-basedcognitive coupling, we predicted an interaction of consistency with task focus:the impact of this consistency should be less noticeable when readers are o"task. The results demonstrated the predicted text-based cognitive-couplinge"ect: There was less of an e"ect of text di!culty when readers reported beingo" task. However, there was no such interaction between consistency and taskfocus. We conclude that the consistency e"ect may depend on the relativelyautomatic activation of prior information, rather than requiring consciouslyretrieving related information in the mindset.