Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Mental models in narrative comprehension.

G H Bower1, D G Morrow

  • 1Department of Psychology, Stanford University, CA 94305.

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|January 5, 1990
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic.

The Hospital·2018
Same author

Comprehension and memory for pictures.

Memory & cognition·2011
Same author

A propositional theory of recognition memory.

Memory & cognition·2011
Same author

Interference in memory for multiple contexts.

Memory & cognition·2011
Same author

Demonstrations of a generation effect in context memory.

Memory & cognition·2001
Same author

The influence of expertise and task factors on age differences in pilot communication.

Psychology and aging·2001
Same journal

A native sulfur deposit in Gale crater, Mars.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026
Same journal

Coordinated demise of harmful algal blooms.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026
Same journal

Genetic effects put into context.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026
Same journal

Bacteria share proteins to survive antibiotics.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026
Same journal

Impacts shaped Earth's first continents.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026
Same journal

Erratum for the Report "Covalently bonded single-molecule junctions with stable and reversible photoswitched conductivity" by C. Jia <i>et al</i>.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026
See all related articles

Readers build mental models of stories, inferring character goals and actions. Focusing on character movements temporarily activates nearby story elements, aiding comprehension and recall of recently visited or imagined locations.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Narrative Comprehension
  • Mental Models

Background:

  • Readers construct mental representations of narrative situations and characters.
  • Understanding involves inferring causal relationships between actions and goals.
  • Reader attention dynamically influences cognitive processing during story comprehension.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how readers' attention to character movements affects mental model activation.
  • To examine the temporal dynamics of spatial and conceptual activation in narrative comprehension.
  • To determine the role of temporary activation in facilitating story understanding.

Main Methods:

  • Readers answered questions about story content.
  • Response times were measured to assess facilitation.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analysis focused on the relationship between question focus and activation spread.
  • Investigated activation of recently visited and imagined locations.

    • Main Results:

    • Focusing attention on character movements activated nearby mental model components.
    • Activation facilitated faster question answering for spatially proximal information.
    • Facilitation decreased with increasing distance from the attentional focus.
    • Both recently experienced and imagined locations showed temporary activation.

    Conclusions:

    • Dynamic attentional focus plays a crucial role in constructing and accessing narrative mental models.
    • Temporary activation of story elements, particularly spatial information, aids comprehension.
    • Understanding narrative involves both inferential reasoning and attention-driven activation processes.