Abstract

An appropriate adequate level of reading comprehension is essential to perform successfully in university education; hence the importance of research and improvement of this cognitive skill. This bibliographic review article seeks to explore some cognitive mechanisms that influence the reading comprehension capacity of university students, for which some theoreticalconceptual tools are provided to delve into the cognitive mechanisms that underlie the reading comprehension capacity. This study attempts to elucidate which tools cognitive psychology provides to understand and improve reading comprehension in university students. Based on the above, it is concluded that the study and improvement of reading comprehension requires accounting for cognitive mechanisms of general domain and specific domain, which are at the base of the strengths and weaknesses manifested in the traditional evaluation instruments of reading comprehension. Likewise, it is concluded that the eye tracking technique applied to the reading process is a very useful tool to identify the difficulties that may arise when understanding written texts. Finally, it is worth mentioning that these theoretical-conceptual tools have been identified as part of the research project The role of executive functions and fluid intelligence in verbal skills and reading comprehension of university students: a study of eye movements, developed at the Institute of Psychological Research of the University of Costa Rica.

Keywords: Cognitive processes; Comprehension; Reading; University students; Experimental psycholog