Is Comprehension in Comics More Effective Than in Traditional Texts in Skilled Adult Readers? An Eye Movement-Based Study

Reading comprehension has been mostly studied using traditional texts and very little is known about reading comprehension in comics. We wanted to find out whether comics could enhance comprehension processes, compared to traditional text and what cognitive processes might be involved in this effect. Furthermore, we explored the functional role of pictures in understanding comics. Forty skilled readers read the comic and text versions of two already published stories and answered comprehension questions. Eye movements were recorded during reading. We found no differences in reading comprehension performance. However, comics were explored faster than traditional texts. Importantly, reading speed of words in balloons was faster than in traditional texts. An analysis of eye movements suggests that the presence of pictures facilitates the extraction of information, with shorter total saccadic amplitude on the pages of comics than in text. When reading comics, participants spent less time on the pictures than the balloons, and this behavior was associated with shorter and fewer fixations. Pictures were also used as an entry point for reading a panel, as the first fixation in the panel fell more frequently on the pictures and the readers returned to them more often than to the balloons. Because pictures are processed faster than words, they may be used to construct a first representation of the content of the story, which can be used to facilitate the processing of the whole story and, more specifically, of its verbal component. This strategy is not available in traditional texts.