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What Understanding Is For
Benjamin A Motz1, Joseph P Magliano2, Kathryn S McCarthy2
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana USA.
Computational Brain & Behavior
|September 23, 2026
Abstract:
Rendering understanding as a general causal account is problematic. This leads us toward accusations of partial understanding, or illusory understanding, characterized by understanding that lacks depth. The discourse comprehension literature offers an alternative: rendering understanding as the construction of a situation model, a model that integrates knowledge, purpose, and context. On this account, the question is never whether understanding is complete, but whether it is adequate for what it aims to achieve.