What is minimal about predictive inferences?
Pronunciation of a probe word that relates to a highly predictable event is typically facilitated when the probe immediately follows the target sentence, but not when it is delayed until after a second sentence. These findings suggest that inferences about highly predictable events are minimally drawn during reading. Using a similar paradigm, in which the probe was delayed, we found significant priming in a reading condition that encouraged focus on the referential state of affairs (situation level) expressed in the sentences. In contrast, significant priming for predictive texts was not observed in a reading condition that encouraged focus on the text per se (text level). These results are interpreted within a theoretical model that assumes that predictive inferences are represented at a situational level only, whereas explicitly presented information is represented at several levels (text and situational). It is in this sense that predictive inferences may be said to be minimally represented.
McDaniel
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Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 87131-1161, USA. mcdaniel@unm.edu
Schmalhofer
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Keefe
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D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014825:Vocabulary