Activation and Encoding of Predictive Inferences: The Role of Reading Skill

Abstract

The focus of this research was to explore the role of reading ability in the activation and encoding of predictive inferences. Predictive inferences pertain to highly predictable text events, such as inferring break after reading "The angry husband threw the fragile vase against the wall." In two experiments, high-, moderate-, and low-skill readers read texts that were designed to elicit a predictive inference or was a matched control. Automatic inference activation was measured with a word-naming task (Experiment 1). Inference encoding was investigated by measuring reading time on a sentence that contradicted the inference (Experiment 2) and via a cued-recall task after reading the passages (Experiment 1). The results showed that only high-skill readers showed evidence of automatic activation, but all readers, regardless of skill, showed evidence of inference encoding. Specifically, all readers slowed down when reading a line that contradicted the inference and were likely to include the targeted inference in their recall protocol of the passages. The findings support the conclusion that reading skill differences are likely to be manifest at the level of inference activation and not at the level of encoding.