Access to prior spatial information
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Access to prior spatial information Emily R. Smith 1 & Jennifer Stiegler-Balfour 2
&
Christopher R. Williams 3 & Erinn K. Walsh 4 & Edward J. O’Brien 3
# The Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2019
Abstract In six experiments, reading times and probe naming times were measured in order to examine the conditions under which spatial information became accessible and/or reactivated. In Experiments 1–4, reading times were measured for target sentences containing spatial inconsistencies. Spatial inconsistencies did not disrupt processing (Experiment 1) unless there were increases in task demands (Experiment 2), elaboration of the protagonist’s location (Experiment 3), or both (Experiment 4). In Experiments 5 and 6, naming times were measured to directly assess the activation of spatial information, specifically objects associated with a protagonist. Spatial information was highly active in memory immediately after being read and less active after four intervening sentences (Experiment 5), but explicit cues (e.g., location or object) as well as references to the current situation model were effective in reactivating previously mentioned spatial information (Experiment 6). The combined results of six experiments are discussed within the context of the RI-Val model. Keywords Situation models . Spatial updating . Comprehension
Introduction There is general agreement that readers are primarily focused on the representation of a text at the level of the situation model. That is, the level that constitutes the meaning of the text including information that was stated explicitly in the text as well as information the reader activates from long-term memory (e.g., Bransford, Barclay, & Franks, 1972; Garrod & Sanford, 1990; Glenberg, Meyer, & Lindem, 1987; Van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983). Because the situation model reflects the reader’s ongoing understanding of a text, a considerable amount of research has been devoted to examining comprehension processes at this level (e.g., Glenberg et al., 1987; Sanford & Garrod, 1981, 1998, 2005). A consistent theme within this research has been that as readers encounter new information, the information is mapped onto the developing situation model currently in focus, while past information may * Emily R. Smith [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, Siena College, 511 Loudon Road, Loudonville, NY 12211, USA
2
University of New England, Biddeford, ME, USA
3
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
4
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, USA
become less accessible from memory due to the limited nature of working memory. Because readers can potentially encode many different details, Zwaan and colleagues (see, Graesser, Millis, & Zwaan, 1997; Pettijohn & Radvansky, 2016; Rinck & Webber, 2003; Zwaan, Langston, & Graesser, 1995a; Zwaan & Radvansky, 1998; Zwaan, Radvansky, Hilliard, & Curiel, 1998) argued that five dimensions of the text (i.e., protagonist, motivation, causation, time, and space) are tracked and mapped onto the current situation model. In the Zwaan et al. (1995a) ev
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