Inference is considered an important factor in comprehension models and has been described as a causal factor in predicting comprehension. To date, specific tests for inference are rare and often rely on specific thematic texts. This reliance on thematic inference may raise some concerns as inference is related to prior text-specific knowledge.…

This paper extends the theory of conditional covariances to polytomous items. It has been mathematically proven that under some mild conditions, commonly assumed in the analysis of response data, the conditional covariance of two items, dichotomously or polytomously scored, is positive if the two items are dimensionally homogeneous and negative…