Investigating dimensional organization in scripts using the pupillary response

Scripts are mental representations of activities in memory and are thought to be organized dimensionally in a temporal dimension. We investigated the cognitive strategies during the processing of temporal order of an event sequence to gain insight into the organization of scripts. Subjects were presented with triplets of script events (A - B - C). Fifty percent of the items included sequence violations at different positions within the triplet (late: A - C - B, or early: C - A - B). Reaction times indicate that subjects use an economical strategy by comparing the relative temporal positions of event pairs (e.g., A vs. B and if necessary B vs. C) and only attend to information that is necessary. Pupil data and error rates indicate that the temporal information of the complete sequence affects the decision process even if the first event pair indicates that temporal order has been violated. Results are seen as evidence of a dimensional structure of scripts.