Representing a Described Sequence of Events A Dynamic View of Narrative Comprehension

• Published in: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition Vol. 30; no. 2; pp. 451 - 464
• Main Authors: Kelter, Stephanie, Kaup, Barbara, Claus, Berry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-03-2004
• Subjects: Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition & reasoning; Comprehension; Concept Formation; Event driven simulation; Experiences (Events); Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Imagination; Language; Learning Processes; Memory; Memory, Short-Term; Mental Models; Models, Psychological; Narratives; Production and perception of written language; Psycholinguistics; Psychological Studies; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reading; Reading Comprehension; Sequential Approach; Set (Psychology); Time; Time Factors (Learning); Time Perception; Verbal Comprehension; Human; Verbal comprehension; Reading; Language; Mental representation; Narrative; Cognition; Sequence; Experimental study
• ISSN: 0278-7393; 1939-1285
• DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.30.2.451

This study explored the representation that readers construct when
advancing through the description of an unfolding occurrence. In 3
experiments, participants read narratives describing a sequence of events
and at a certain moment were tested for the accessibility of an entity from a
past event. Entities were less accessible when the temporal distance
between that past event and the current
now
point in the
described world was relatively long than when it was shorter. This
effect occurred when temporal distance was varied in terms of the duration of
an intervening event but not when it was varied in terms of a temporal
shift. The results suggest that the representation constructed for the
description of an unfolding occurrence mimics its temporal structure.
This is consistent with a dynamic view of narrative comprehension.