Читать книгу The Science of Reading - Группа авторов - Страница 26

Text comprehension results in memories at multiple levels, two at minimum: the text surface and the mental‐model (Johnson‐Laird, 1983). Research generally has followed the three‐way distinction of van Dijk and Kintsch (1983): surface level, text‐base, and situation model. This three‐way distinction adds a level of language‐based text meanings (propositions) intermediate between clauses/sentences and situated meanings.

Critical in the situation model are inferences that require knowledge from both the text and the reader’s general knowledge. Bridging inferences are often required to make a text coherent (see O’Brien et al., 2015). For example, in reading “The bright sun lit the field. Alfred’s snowman melted,” one maintains coherence by inferring that the sun’s heat caused the snow to melt (Singer et al. 1992). When related knowledge triggers elaborative inferences, which are not required for coherence, comprehension becomes referentially richer and more interpretative, although unwarranted inferences can lead to inaccuracies. Successful comprehension attains a situation model that is enriched by inferences and referentially specific, but also well aligned with the text meaning.