Cognitive Science
Subject: Individual Differences in Regularities Learning and Written Information Processing.
Supervisor: Prof. Ram Frost.
Abstract: The study examined the relationship between reading abilities and the individual ability to learn regularities, and whether this relationship changes in different languages. In each language there are statistical regularities between the various components of the language, including regularities of letters, regularities of words etc. However, these regularities vary between language, for example, there are differences in statistical regularities between Hebrew and English, partly due to the Semitic structure of Hebrew. In this study, we will examine whether a high sensitivity to regularities measured by eye movements will be expressed in more efficient and skilled reading, which uses information about the expected regularities in the language. This research has theoretical implications for the understanding of reading processes and the cognitive abilities that support reading. In addition, this study may have far-reaching practical implications for teaching of reading as well as for reading disabilities and possible therapeutic intervention.