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Updated: Aug 10, 2026
06:49
Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension
Published on: January 10, 2014
Goal coordination in narrative comprehension
1Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 60115, USA. jmagliano@niu.edu
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|August 10, 2001
Summary
Maintaining multiple character goals in reading can make earlier goals harder to recall. However, earlier goals do not affect later goals, supporting explanation-based comprehension.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Human Comprehension Studies
Background:
- Previous research focused on single or related character goals during text comprehension.
- The impact of multiple, unrelated character goals on comprehension was less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how maintaining multiple, unrelated character goals affects goal availability during reading.
- To contrast the influence of subsequent goals on earlier goals versus earlier goals on subsequent goals.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted to examine goal maintenance during text comprehension.
- Participants' ability to recall earlier and subsequent character goals was assessed.
Main Results:
- Active subsequent goals reduced the availability of previously mentioned goals, even without semantic links.
- Earlier mentioned goals did not impact the availability of subsequent goals.
Conclusions:
- Goal management during comprehension is asymmetric, with later goals impacting earlier ones.
- Findings support an explanation-based model of text comprehension, emphasizing the role of active goal processing.
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