Interactions of Decoding, Working Memory, and Mind Wandering on Reading Comprehension

Mind wandering (MW), working memory (WM), and decoding are all known to influence reading comprehension (RC), but there is little information on how these factors interact with one another. Also, most MW literature focuses on adults and thus generalization to children is still needed. To address these gaps, we studied these factors in 212 Hispanic middle schoolers with a Spanish language background who were at-risk for achievement difficulties. All three predictors demonstrated a significant relationship with RC, although MW relations to RC were contingent on the type of MW measure utilized. The only significant interaction was of MW and decoding for RC, such that MW and RC were negatively related for individuals with superior to very superior decoding skills, but positively related for those with very low to low decoding skills. These results clarify the interactive relationships of these three key predictors on the important academic achievement outcome of RC.