Reading fluency links to reasoning about beliefs in adults
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Researchers in Turkey studied 76 women, 41 with limited literacy and 35 with extensive education, to understand how reading ability affects social reasoning.
The scientists measured participants’ ability to solve false-belief tasks, which require understanding that another person can hold beliefs different from reality. They found that literate women correctly answered the belief questions around 80 percent of the time, while illiterate women answered correctly about 20 percent of the time, despite both groups understanding the stories themselves.
The researchers then examined whether reading fluency, intelligence, or impulse control explained the difference. Reading fluency alone accounted for 49 percent of the variation in false-belief performance, suggesting it plays a significant role in developing this type of reasoning. The study also showed that the illiterate participants had lower scores on a test of inhibitory control, but this difference disappeared when accounting for reading fluency.
The researchers emphasize that the study does not prove reading causes improved social reasoning, but suggests a strong connection. They note the sample was small and the literate group highly educated, which could influence the results. Gedik and his colleagues plan to continue this work, including testing the same participants on nonverbal social reasoning tasks and conducting longitudinal studies to track changes as people learn to read.
