Highlights ways in which standard information processing models of language, and specifically of reading, are deficient. Deficiencies are considered under four headings: (1) theoretical rigour, (2) the interaction of different levels of information during reading; (3) the parallel nature of much of human information processing, and (4) reading…

Study investigated the nature of the information that is available to Ss when they have comprehended linguistic materials. (Authors)

Principles of cognitive psychology are used to explain the reading comprehension process. More effective diagnosis and solution of reading problems can be made by understanding the many factors involved and using a broad conceptual model, including internal and external influences, to pinpoint difficulties. (Author/CJ)

Twenty female and 20 male college students studied a passage in quiet surroundings or while listening to preferred music and then either relaxed or read unrelated material. Reading comprehension of the passage was facilitated by silent study for subjects who seldom listen to music and by poststudy relaxation. (Author)

Third- and fifth-grade children's abilities to make inferences in the context of reading and understanding a lengthy story were examined. The most critical result was that the younger, but not the older children, made fewer inferences when the component premises for an inference were located in separate paragraphs than when they occurred in the…

Summarizes the findings of Perry Thorndyke's investigation of knowledge acquisition from newspaper stories. (DD)

Six core profiles were identified on four fluid reasoning to comprehension knowledge constructs previously found to be both theoretically and empirically linked to children's reading acquisition: auditory processing, crystallized ability, processing speed, and short-term memory. Cluster analysis was used to develop this taxonomy and the…

Investigates the effect of depth of processing on second-language reading comprehension. Finds that questions which entailed shallow cognitive processing (factual ones) are easier to answer than those which entail deeper cognitive processing (generalization and inference questions). (SR)

The notion that inferences contributing to coherence of a text representation are made during reading is examined. It is demonstrated that this idea is an overgeneralization and that one must distinguish between relations internal to the structure of the representation and relations that involve references to the world. (27 references) (Author/LB)

States that although the think-aloud method (TAM) is being used with increasing frequency in studying text comprehension, some skepticism of its value remains. Discusses assumptions behind TAM, aspects of comprehension it can reveal, and directions for research using TAM. Argues that TAM is a useful technique for tracking changes in the contents…

The literature on assessing the cognitive processes involved in hypertext comprehension during the past 15 years has yielded contradictory results. In this article we explore a possible factor affecting this situation, mainly the fact that previous works did not control for the potential effects on comprehension of reading strategies in hypertext.…

Relation priming is a phenomenon in which comprehension of a word pair (e.g., COPPER HORSE) is facilitated by the prior presentation of another word pair (e.g., GLASS EYE) that instantiates the same conceptual relation (i.e., "composed of"). We investigated whether relation priming is contingent on lexical similarity. Study 1 revealed that…

Memory-based and constructionist processes have both been proposed as essential components of the activation of concepts (e.g., propositions) and the establishment of meaningful connections between concepts during reading. In this article, we argue that a comprehensive theory of reading comprehension should include both sets of processes. In…

In this article, we discuss 2 issues that we believe any theory of discourse comprehension has to take account of-accessing irrelevant information and granularity. Along the lines that have been suggested as demonstrating the memory-based account, we describe some work in favor of the recruitment of apparently irrelevant information from memory…