Representing a described sequence of events: a dynamic view of narrative comprehension

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.