Why did you decide to read this, and will you keep reading to the end? Do you expect to understand every single part of it and will you remember anything about it in a fortnight’s (1) ________? Common sense (2) _______ that the answers to these questions depend on “readability” – whether the (3) _________ matter is interesting, the argument clear and the (4)________ attractive. But psychologists are trying to (5) _________ why people read – and often don’t read certain things, for example technical information. They also have examined so much the writing as the readers.

Even the most technically confident people often (6) _________ instructions for the video or home computer in favor of hands-on experience. And people frequently take little notice of consumer information, whether on nutritional labels or in the small print of contracts. Psychologists researching reading (7) _________ to assume that both beginners and competent readers read everything put in front of them from start to finish. There are (8) _______ among them about the role of eyes, memory and brain during the process. Some people believe that fluent readers take in very letter or word they see; others (9) _______ that readers rely on memory or context to carry them from one phrase to another. But they have always assumed that the reading process is the same: reading starts, comprehension (10) ________, then reading stops.