Edward J. O’Brien

Character profiles and the activation of predictive inferences

Most evidence indicates that with supportive context, predictive inferences do become activated. The present experiments were designed to investigate whether the characteristics of the protagonist can mitigate against activation of a predictive inference, even when the immediately preceding context supports it. Participants read passages containing a detailed description of characteristics of the protagonist. The characteristics were either consistent, inconsistent, or neutral with respect to a subsequent predictive inference. This character information was followed by a context that supported the predictive inference. Experiment 1 demonstrated that predictive inferences were activated, except when they conflicted with the characteristics of the protagonist. Experiment 2 demonstrated that when an inference was activated, it was also instantiated into the representation of the text. These results are discussed in terms of the memory-based view of text processing.

Tracking spatial information during reading: a cue-based process

The goal of the present set of experiments was to examine whether a cue-based mechanism could account for how, and under what conditions, spatial information is tracked. In five experiments, reading times were measured for a target sentence that contradicted the earlier-described location of a protagonist. When the target sentence contained either one or two cues to earlier spatial information (Experiments 1a–1c), reading times were disrupted. When all cues were eliminated (Experiments 2a and 2b), reading time were disrupted only when readers were instructed to take the perspective of the protagonist. The combined results of all five experiments are consistent with a cue-based mechanism: Readers encode spatial information but do not update earlier-encoded spatial information except in response to specific text characteristics (i.e., cues to earlier spatial information) or task demands (e.g., an instruction to read from the perspective of the protagonist) that increase the accessibility of earlier-encoded spatial information.

Processing real-world violations embedded within a fantasy-world narrative:

Fantasy-text is a genre in which events routinely violate rules we know to be true in the real world. In four experiments, we explored the inherent contradiction between unrealistic fictional events and general world knowledge (GWK) to examine these competing information sources within the context of an extended fantasy-narrative. Experiments 1a and 1b demonstrated that fantasy-unrelated inconsistencies caused disruption to comprehension despite an abundance of contextual support for real-world impossible events that violate GWK. Experiment 2a demonstrated that fantasy-related inconsistencies caused disruption when they occurred at the local level and the fantasy-context stood in direct opposition to the target sentence. However, Experiment 2b demonstrated that disruption can be initially eliminated when readers encountered fantasy-related violations at the global level, but delayed-processing difficulty occurred on the spillover sentence, downstream of the target sentence. All four experiments are discussed within the context of the RI-Val model.

Source credibility and the processing of refutation texts.

The knowledge revision components framework (KReC) outlines the basic comprehension processes and text factors that can be accentuated to increase the potential for knowledge revision during reading. The goal of the present study was to explore source credibility as one such text factor. In Experiment 1, we established the utility of a set of refutation texts in influencing knowledge revision. Participants read ten refutation and ten control texts. The participants had faster reading times and higher posttest scores for the refutation than for the control texts, providing evidence for knowledge revision. In Experiment 2, we examined the influence of source credibility under normal reading conditions. Participants read 20 refutation texts, ten with high-credibility and ten with low-credibility sources. The reading times and posttest scores suggested that knowledge revision unfolded successfully, independent of credibility. Using the same texts, in Experiment 3 we examined the influence of direct instructions that made the credibility of the source of information more salient. When the credibility of the source was made salient, the revision process was disrupted in the low-credibility condition, as evidenced by slower reading times and lower posttest scores than in the high-credibility condition. The results add to our understanding of the factors that constrain knowledge revision during the reading of refutation texts, and are discussed in the context of the extant literature and KReC.

Validation of semantic illusions independent of anomaly detection: evidence from eye movements

Several theorists have argued that readers fail to detect semantic anomalies during reading, and that these effects are indicative of “shallow processing” behaviours. Previous studies of semantic anomalies such as the Moses illusion have focused primarily on explicit detection tasks. In the present study, we examined participants’ eye movements as they read true/false statements that were non-anomalous, or contained a semantic anomaly that was either high- or low-related to the correct information. Analyses of reading behaviours revealed that only low-related detected anomalies resulted in initial processing difficulty, but both detected and undetected anomalies, regardless of whether they were high- or low-related, resulted in delayed processing difficulty. The results extend previous findings on semantic anomalies and are discussed in terms of the RI-Val model of text processing.

Competing Activation during Fantasy Text Comprehension.

ABSTRACT During comprehension, readers’ general world knowledge and contextual information compete for influence during integration and validation. Fantasy narratives, in which general world knowledge often conflicts with fantastical events, provide a setting to examine this competition. Experiment 1 showed that with sufficient elaboration, contextual information can dominate the integration and validation of fantastical information. In Experiments 2a and 2b, contextual support was diminished and general world knowledge dominated integration and validation and disrupted fantasy comprehension. Experiment 3 demonstrated that skilled readers make better use of contextual elaborations during integration and validation than less skilled readers, leading to different consequences for comprehension.

Taking the perspective of the narrator

Readers do not always adopt the perspective of the protagonist; however, they will under certain conditions. Experiments 1a and 1b showed that readers will take the perspective of the protagonist from the third-person point of view, but only when explicitly instructed to do so. Experiment 2 demonstrated that reading from the first-person point of view is a text-based manipulation that encourages readers to adopt the perspective of the protagonist. The results of Experiments 3a and 3b replicated the findings of Experiments 1a and 2. Experiment 4 established that simply increasing readers’ attention to the text does not lead to adoption of the protagonist’s perspective; moreover, this suggests that when it does occur, protagonist perspective adoption is not the result of increased attention, but strategic processing.

Processing the Outcomes of Characters’ Actions: The Impacts of Character Goals and Situational Context

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to investigate two factors that affect the processing of the outcomes of intentional actions. Participants read three-sentence stories that varied the presence of an explicit goal and the semantic association between the outcome and its situational context (i.e., physical or virtual location). The ease of processing outcomes (as measured by sentence reading times) was facilitated by having an explicitly stated goal (e.g., “X wanted a beer”) that causally explained why an action (e.g., “X went to a bar”) took place and by a high degree of contextual constraint between the action (e.g., “X went to a bar” as opposed to “X went to a restaurant”) and the outcome (e.g., “X got a beer”). There was no evidence that the two factors interacted. These results suggest that readers monitor, in parallel, the associations of actions with the intentions of a character and the situational context in which those actions occur.