The role of factual coherence in discourse comprehension∗

Abstract

The present set of studies investigated the effects of breakdowns in referential and factual coherence on text comprehension. Breakdowns in referential coherence produced by distant antecedent information hindered reading times of texts but not text memory; those produced by absent antecedent information hindered both. Breakdowns in factual coherence hindered reading times of texts and hindered text memory when the comprehension goal of readers was an integrative one, requiring readers to update old knowledge with new information, but not when the comprehension goal was to accurately recall the texts. Recall results for the more integrative task suggested that “new” factually inconsistent information is particularly salient and memorable to subjects, whereas memory for “old” factually inconsistent knowledge is hindered. The present studies also revealed that the processing of factually inconsistent information hindered other information in passages. Results are discussed in terms of possible constructive ...