Eye-Mind reader: an intelligent reading interface that promotes long-term comprehension by detecting and responding to mind wandering

We zone out roughly 20-40% of the time during reading – a rate that is concerning given the negative relationship between mind-wandering and comprehension. We tested if Eye-Mind Reader – an intelligent interface that targeted mind-wandering as it occurred – could mitigate its negative impact on reading comprehension. When an eye-gaze-based classifier indicated that a reader was mind-wandering, those in a MW-Intervention condition were asked to self-explain the concept they were reading about. If the self-explanation quality was deemed subpar by an automated scoring mechanism, readers were asked to re-read parts of the text in order to correct their comprehension deficits and improve their self-explanation. Each participant in the MW-Intervention condition was paired with a Yoked-Control counterpart who received the exact same interventions regardless of whether they were mind-wandering. Results indicate that re-reading improved self-explanation quality for the MW-Intervention group, but not the control group. The two conditions performed equally well on textbase (i.e. fact-based) and inference-level comprehension questions immediately after reading. However, after a week-long delay, the MW-Intervention condition significantly outperformed the yoked-control condition on both comprehension assessments (ds = .352 and .307). Our findings suggest that real-time interventions during critical periods of mind-wandering can promote long-term retention and comprehension.