The present study explores the effects of everyday thinking styles on the motivations underlying reading-behavior within female undergraduates. The Attributional Complexity Scale (Fletcher, et al., 1986; Moroi, 2000), the Orientation toward the Critical Thinking Scale (Hirooka, et al., 2000; 2001), the Sensation Seeking Scale (author revised version of scale developed by Terasaki et al., 1987), and the Motives for Reading Behavior Scale (Hirayama, 2005; Rikihisa & Moroi, 2012) were administered to female undergraduates (N=351). The results of factor analysis (using the likelihood method with promax rotations) extracted seven factors for the Motive for Reading Behavior Scale. The results of a subsequently conducted factor analysis classified those factors under two categories of achievement and consumption. Moreover, covariance structure analysis was also executed to confirm the hypothesized relationships between everyday thinking styles and the motivations for reading-behavior. The results indicate that while critical thinking enhances achievement motivations, it inhibits consumption motivations. The significance of research into the psychological mechanisms underlying reading-behavior is discussed.

The present study investigates how writing about the moods elicited by negative indirect experiences influences learners' feelings. More specifically, the study contrasts two hypotheses; Hypothesis 1 is that writing about the moods elicited by some negative indirect experience can alleviate such moods and Hypothesis 2 is that one's mood can deteriorate after writing. The participants in this study were university students. A pilot experiment confirmed that the Grave of Fireflies video evokes negative feelings. In the main experiment, the participants were assigned to one of three writing conditions: writing about the moods elicited by the video material, copying a neutral text, or no writing. The result of a 3 x 2 (writing x test time) mixed-subjects ANOVA revealed that participants who wrote about the moods elicited by the video material experienced more depressive feelings than those who copied the neutral text. Thus, this result partially supports Hypothesis 2. Writing about the moods elicited by a negative indirect experience has similar effects to writing about the moods elicited by a direct experience. This finding indicates the need for care when learners within educational settings write about the moods elicited by negative indirect experiences.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of character size and display style on reading rate when reading a sentence displayed on a computer screen (digital reading). The participants in this study were 21 university students with normal vision. Character sizes varied with heights of 0.7°, 1.1°, 1.7°, and 2.6°. Display conditions included Zoom, Reflow, Linear, and EP (Elicited Visual Presentation). In the Zoom condition, the reading rate was found to be lower for character sizes of more than 1.7°. However, in the Reflow, Linear, and EP conditions, the reading rate was not affected by character size expansion.

Self-explanation is a learning strategy of expressing aloud one's thoughts while studying a textbook. This study examines the effects of self-explanation on studying a statistical textbook. Prompts orientating self-explanations and expressing aloud were manipulated between participants. In a prompts plus utterances group, the participants were asked to paraphrase difficult words, interpret sentences, and create relations between sentences, figures, and tables, and to express aloud all their thoughts while studying the textbook. In a no-prompts but utterances group, the participants were asked to comprehend the text and to express aloud their thoughts while studying. In a prompts but no-utterances group, the participants were asked to silently paraphrase difficult words, interpret sentences, and create relations between sentences, figures, and tables. Finally, in a no-prompts plus no-utterances group, the participants were asked to silently read and comprehend the text. Following the study phase, the participants completed a questionnaire concerning their thinking processes. Then, they undertook a test that included both text-based and inference-based questions. The results of the test indicate that expressing aloud hindered the participants' study of the textbook but there were no prompt effects on learning. The results of the questionnaire indicate that participants who interpreted the textbook content more had higher scores for the inference-based questions.