Effects of changes in narrative time on eye movements and recognition responses

In two experiments we examined how temporal aspects of narrative events influence comprehension. In Experiment 1 participants read paragraphs in which a critical event was followed by a phrase that signaled a time shift (After an hour versus After a moment). Consistent with earlier findings (e.g., Zwaan, 1996), fixation durations were longer on the phrase that signaled a larger time shift. However, there was no evidence that a larger time shift affected the accessibility of event information in Experiment 1, when the dependent measure was ease of anaphor comprehension, or in Experiment 2, when a recognition probe task was used. Although the discontinuation of an event (Maurice stopped versus was painting) did not affect anaphor reading times, it did lead to longer recognition times for the event. These results indicate that at least some event aspects remain accessible following a change in time and that the dependent measure can have a critical impact on the conclusions.