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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Inferential revision in narrative texts
T2 - an ERP study
AU - Perez, Ana
AU - Cain, Kate
AU - Castellanos, Maria
AU - Bajo, Teresa
N1 - The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13421-015-0528-0
PY - 2015/11
Y1 - 2015/11
N2 - We evaluated the process of inferential revision during text comprehension in adults. Participants with high or low working memory read short texts, in which the introduction supported two plausible concepts (e.g., ‘guitar/violin’), although one was more probable (‘guitar’). There were three possible continuations: a neutral sentence, which did not refer back to either concept; a no revise sentence, which referred to a general property consistent with either concept (e.g., ‘…beautiful curved body’); and a revise sentence, which referred to a property that was consistent with only the less likely concept (e.g., ‘…matching bow’). Readers took longer to read the sentence in the revise condition, indicating that they were able to evaluate their comprehension and detect a mismatch. In a final sentence, a target noun referred to the alternative concept supported in the revise condition (e.g., ‘violin’). ERPs indicated that both working memory groups were able to evaluate their comprehension of the text (P3a), but only high working memory readers were able to revise their initial incorrect interpretation (P3b) and integrate the new information (N400) when reading the revise sentence. Low working memory readers had difficulties inhibiting the no longer relevant interpretation and thus failed to revise their situation model, and they experienced problems integrating semantically related information into an accurate memory representation.
AB - We evaluated the process of inferential revision during text comprehension in adults. Participants with high or low working memory read short texts, in which the introduction supported two plausible concepts (e.g., ‘guitar/violin’), although one was more probable (‘guitar’). There were three possible continuations: a neutral sentence, which did not refer back to either concept; a no revise sentence, which referred to a general property consistent with either concept (e.g., ‘…beautiful curved body’); and a revise sentence, which referred to a property that was consistent with only the less likely concept (e.g., ‘…matching bow’). Readers took longer to read the sentence in the revise condition, indicating that they were able to evaluate their comprehension and detect a mismatch. In a final sentence, a target noun referred to the alternative concept supported in the revise condition (e.g., ‘violin’). ERPs indicated that both working memory groups were able to evaluate their comprehension of the text (P3a), but only high working memory readers were able to revise their initial incorrect interpretation (P3b) and integrate the new information (N400) when reading the revise sentence. Low working memory readers had difficulties inhibiting the no longer relevant interpretation and thus failed to revise their situation model, and they experienced problems integrating semantically related information into an accurate memory representation.
KW - Revising information
KW - Inference making
KW - Working memory
U2 - 10.3758/s13421-015-0528-0
DO - 10.3758/s13421-015-0528-0
M3 - Journal article
VL - 43
SP - 1105
EP - 1135
JO - Memory and Cognition
JF - Memory and Cognition
SN - 0090-502X
IS - 8
ER -