Reading computer-displayed moving text with and without self-control over the display rate

In the present study, text was horizontally advanced in jumps of five character spaces at a time along a single line of 20 character spaces on a computer display. Forty-eight subjects read the test thus presented over four consecutive days, and the text display rate was under either subject or experimenter control. In general, the results showed that the subjects' reading performance increased over the time of the study, indicating that effects of practice existed in reading computer-displayed moving text. On the last day, when the display rate was held constant, giving subjects control resulted in worse comprehension performance than when such control was not given. Implications of these results for reading computer-displayed moving text are discussed.