Cognitive model of processing symbolic information abstracted from verbal expressions should consider running text, not scattered sentences. A valid abstraction of information structures should be based on explicit encoding of intentionality and valuation. A model must cope with empirical context and novelty instead of truth-values in…

An empirically-based theory is proposed that relates media's most essential modes of presentation--their symbol systems--to modes of cognitive representation and to the acquisition of knowledge. This book draws upon scholarship in such areas as the study of symbol systems, cognition, cognitive development, psycholinguistics, and mass…