Not so fast: A reply to Benedetto et al. (2015)

Benedetto et al. (2015) compared regular reading and Rapid Serial Visual Presentation for comprehension, visual fatigue, performance, mental workload, and ocular behavior. We further investigated the relation between RSVP and comprehension in two studies involving a total of 172 participants. We used two presentation speed conditions: one that was close to regular reading (as in the target article) and a faster one. Results of the two studies reported here clearly and consistently shown a loss in comprehension when speed presentation increased over the normal reading speed. Mental workload was also assessed (using both subjective and behavioral measures) and results indicated that the effect on comprehension was not due to the attention devoted to the reading task, but most probably to difficulties in encoding.