Presents a mathematical-categorization model using multiple-step chains of reasoning (CORs) and memory for examples. In 5 experiments, 144 undergraduates memorized descriptions of fictional people, then made predictions from incomplete descriptions using 1-, 2-, or 3-step CORs. The multiple-step context model with one- and two-step inference…

The minimalist hypothesis of inference processing is proposed. According to this hypothesis, the only inferences coded automatically during reading are those based on easily available information and those required to make statements in a text locally coherent. Five experiments with 249 college students support the hypothesis. (SLD)

Recommends treating basic skills students as if they have innate knowledge, not an intellectual disease. Underscores inference as a key activity in critical thinking. Suggests strategies for improving students' inferential powers. Argues that the strategies can help students recognize their inferential ability and learn to use it in writing. (SG)

Examination of English-as-a-Foreign-Language reading coursebooks indicated that these books do not systematically incorporate insights derived from research into training designed to develop lexical inferencing strategies. The books give little advice on exploiting cues from morphology and little relationship is detectable between proposed…

Five experiments were used to determine whether and why second graders, fourth graders, and college students differ in modifying causal inferences about a surprising event in a story. Illustrated how encoding and retrieval factors contribute to inference modification. Results showed small developmental increases in inference modification in…

Investigates how adult readers represent causal relations among events in a narrative, specifically by testing two models of text comprehension, the linear chain of text model versus the network model. Provides support for a network model of the representation of causal relations in narratives. (HB)

Argues that an adequate theory of inference generation should accurately predict whether particular classes of knowledge-based inferences are generated online during text comprehension. Proposes a "constructionist" theory which accounts for the findings of cognitive psychology and discourse processing. (HB)

Applies schema theory (assimilation, accommodation, and medium) to the processes associated with learning from the news media. Finds subjects given consistent information most willing to make inferences, with those receiving inconsistent information more likely to remember more facts. Finds that mode of presentation has little effect. (SR)

The statistical analysis of processing tree models is advanced by showing how the parameters of estimation and hypothesis testing, based on the likelihood functions, can be accomplished by adapting the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. The adaptation makes it easy to program a personal computer to accomplish the stages of statistical…

Many curricula for teaching reading in a foreign language do not include the skill of understanding the implicit meaning of texts. This article presents a taxonomy of inferences drawn from selected taxonomies of Pearson and Johnson, Warren et al., and Nicholas et al., which are also reviewed. (Contains 22 references.) (Author/LB)

Investigated age differences from early childhood to adulthood in the capacity to understand--in a psychologically meaningful way--traits in stories wherein main characters perform actions based on a positive, negative, or incidental motive that result in an emotional consequence for another character. Found that even 5- to 6-year-olds made trait…

Discusses the importance of teaching English-as-a-Second-Language students to be effective listeners, examining different types of listening (listening for gist, listening for specific information, and inference) and describing how to determine the direction in which students listen (top down or bottom up). Two sidebars present teaching tips and…

Examines the relationship between readers' implicit models of reading and motivation to read. Argues that transaction models increase motivation to read by legitimizing the meaning-construction process and by increasing the type and number of deeper-processing strategies such as inferencing, generating hypotheses, and the construction of a…

Statistical significance reporting and use in educational and psychological research is reviewed. An assessment of the use of statistical significance in articles published in MECD from 1990-1996 is presented. The elements of statistical significance (including sample size, effect size, and power), interpretation of results, common erroneous…

Suggests two models of how readers create bridging inferences to resolve signals to textual cohesion. Evaluates reading times, verification accuracy, verification latency, and regressive eye fixations to support the model which views bridges as the result of a form of deduction in which the reader tacitly establishes premises that provide rational…