Syntax violations as error feedback during rapid reading: Suggestions for a new readability measure supplement.

Our purpose was to test the notion that syntax violations of partially scanned sentences may serve as an error signal in rapid reading and warn readers that they have omitted a word. We constructed (a) sentences (called robust), so that omission of a key term resulted in a syntax violation; and (b) equivalent forms of the same sentences (called fragile), constructed so that omission of the key term would still yield a well-formed English sentence. In two experiments, more key words were recalled after reading robust than fragile sentences. A quantitative index of robustness is possible and may be a useful supplement to readability indices for expository or directive prose.