I suffer from this problem but I can't see how this study helped. It seems that they have figured out the obvious and spent over $600,000 doing it:
Ever read the same paragraph three times? Or get to the end of a page and realize you don't know what you just read?
That's mindless reading. It is the literary equivalent of driving for miles without remembering how you got there — something so common many people don't even notice it.
In a new study of college students, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of British Columbia established a way to study mindless reading in a lab.
Their findings showed that daydreaming has its costs.
The readers who zoned out most tended to do the worst on tests of reading comprehension — a significant, if not surprising, result. The study also suggested that zoning out caused the poor test results, as opposed to other possible factors, such as the complexity of the text or the task.
[...]Reichle and fellow psychology professor Jonathan Schooler did the study on a $691,000 grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, an arm of the Education Department. It is one of 178 federally backed projects aimed at giving schools a scientific basis for sound policies.
Over three experiments, students used computers to read the first five chapters of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace." (Reichle wanted some boring reading — better for zoning out.)
Reichle said the dry text itself did not skew the results toward mindless wandering. After all, the students were on alert, unlike the typical reader.
So, if I don't pay attention when I read I won't get good grades on a test. I'm so glad we funded this much needed study, it's certainly money well spent.
