Emotional reactivity and comprehension of multiple online texts.

This study investigates the role of students’ dispositional emotion reactivity in the comprehension of conflicting online information about the topic of health risks associated with the use of mobile phones. Arousal was measured by changes in electrodermal activity as a physiological response to an emotionally negative school-related video. Emotional valence was assessed by self-reports. One hundred and four 7th graders read six texts about the topic in websites varying for reliability and position. After reading, a sentence verification test assessed surface comprehension within texts, while a short essay assessed their comprehension across them at intertextual level, including sourcing and argumentation. Results revealed that two reliably distinct profiles of emotional response, high reactive and low reactive, emerged from a cluster analysis when considering both arousal and valence of emotionality. These profiles differentiated intertextual comprehension at sourcing level, while controlling for possible interfering variables. Low reactive students outperformed high reactive students for the ability to refer to source information and to connect it to the content provided. Findings indicate the importance of student differences in emotional reactivity in a common comprehension task in the digital era.