Nonlinear Dynamics of Reading and Text Comprehension

This thesis investigates natural text reading, pursuing the overarching aim to establish an objective and easy-to-use measure of text comprehension based on eye movement dynamics. This idea is based on the hypothesis of reading time regularity (RTR), which postulates an informative link between process measures of reading (e.g., reading times, eye movements), and outcomes of the reading process (e.g., fluency, comprehension). To this end, the degree of regularity in a time series is quantified by means of nonlinear methods that are situated in dynamical systems theory. Thus, another aim of this thesis is to explore the suitability of such methods, here, recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) and sample entropy analysis (SampEn), to capture relevant changes in eye movement behavior during text reading. Furthermore, the crucial role of comprehension assessment for reading research is addressed.