Maintaining Both Local and Global Coherence

In 2 experiments we investigated whether readers experience comprehension difficulty when they read texts in which local coherence is maintained but global incoherence is introduced. Ss read passages containing an elaborate description of a main character presented early in the text that was inconsistent with actions carried out by the main character later in the text. In Experiment 1, reading times for critical sentences were significantly longer when the earlier description and the critical sentences were inconsistent. In Experiment 2, resolution of global inconsistencies improved memory for the regions of the text that involved the inconsistencies. The results are discussed within a mental model approach to comprehension in which readers attempt to maintain both local and global coherence.

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