Comprehension and metacomprehension of negated text

Abstract

Abstract Previous research has demonstrated that negated text is a particularly difficult text construction, and often leads to readers having difficulty understanding and remembering what they have read. To date, attempts at identifying a strategy that would aid in readers’ comprehension of negation have not been successful. However, in studies focused on affirmative text, readers practicing retrieving information from a text showed improvements in comprehension and more accurate metacomprehension judgments. The present study aimed to determine whether this strategy also benefits readers of passages in which a critical concept has been negated. Interestingly, results demonstrated that while readers judged their comprehension to be better when practicing retrieval, their comprehension was not actually better. These results suggest that simply practicing retrieval information is not necessarily enough to enhance comprehension or metacomprehension of this text construction.