Proposes a "partial explanatory" model of document processing. Describes research underlying the model, presents a grammar of documents, defines and illustrates the variables underlying the model using a set of tasks relating to a bus schedule, and demonstrates the advantages of explanatory over exploratory models of document processing. (SR)

Concludes that spatial information is available to readers only under very specific conditions. Notes that readers told to focus on spatial details had the information available, but that, when told to read for comprehension, spatial information did not become available. Finds also that spatial information was available only when it was required…

Finds that the reader's purpose for reading (read-to-do or read-to-recall) partially determines what type of mental representation is stressed during comprehension. Finds that the processing of procedural text is codetermined by the participants' purpose for reading and type of text (narrative versus list-like) as well as the text structure (as…