Date of Award
Fall 1996
Project Type
Dissertation
Program or Major
Psychology
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
First Advisor
Edward J O'Brien
Abstract
Five experiments were conducted to determine whether readers generate predictive inferences when biasing context was available at either a local level (i.e., in short-term memory) or global level (i.e., in long-term memory). Subjects read passages that described two characters; one description contained contextual information supporting a predictive inference and the other description did not. Experiments 1 and 2 examined whether subjects generated a predictive inference when biasing context was locally available. Reading time differences in Experiment 1 demonstrated that subjects experienced comprehension difficulty when critical sentences were inconsistent with biasing context. Experiment 2 showed that subjects had generated a predictive inference when accompanied by biasing context. Experiments 3 and 4 replicated the results of Experiments 1 and 2 respectively, when biasing context was available at a global level. Reading time differences in Experiment 3 demonstrated that subjects experienced comprehension difficulty when critical sentences were inconsistent with the biasing context. Experiment 4 showed that subjects had generated a predictive inference when accompanied by biasing context. Experiment 5 confirmed that biasing context was available at a global level in Experiments 3 and 4. Results are discussed in terms of several recent discourse comprehension models.
Recommended Citation
Rizzella, Michelle Lenore, "The generation of predictive inferences and the availability of contextual information" (1996). Doctoral Dissertations. 1922.
https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1922
