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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
06:49
Using Eye Movements to Evaluate the Cognitive Processes Involved in Text Comprehension
Published on: January 10, 2014
Assessing text representations with recognition: The interaction of domain knowledge and text coherence
Debra L Long1, Jeannette Wilson, Ryan Hurley
1Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. dllong@ucdavis.edu
Summary
This study reveals how prior knowledge and text clarity impact mental models during reading comprehension. Recollection and familiarity measures show distinct effects, suggesting they mark different representation-building processes.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Text comprehension involves building mental representations, specifically a textbase and a situation model.
- Understanding how reader characteristics and text properties influence these representations is crucial for effective learning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of domain knowledge and text coherence on the construction of textbase and situation-model representations.
- To determine if recollection and familiarity serve as markers for these distinct representational processes.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments utilizing recognition memory tasks were conducted.
- Experiment 1 employed remember-know judgments.
- Experiment 2 utilized the process-dissociation procedure to estimate recollection and familiarity.
Main Results:
- Domain knowledge and text coherence interacted to differentially affect remember judgments compared to know judgments.
- This interaction also influenced recollection estimates, but not familiarity estimates.
- Findings suggest distinct roles for recollection and familiarity in representation construction.
Conclusions:
- Recollection and familiarity can be utilized as indicators for the processes underlying textbase and situation-model construction.
- Domain knowledge and text coherence are key factors modulating these cognitive processes during reading.
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