The role of prior knowledge in inferential processing

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe present research tested how domain‐related knowledge influences inference generation during text comprehension. Two types of inference were examined, those that maintained referential coherence, referred to as local inferences, and those that were anticipatory in nature, referred to as global inferences. Three groups of subjects, each with differing degrees of domain knowledge, read a domain‐related text that included both types of inference. It was found that all knowledge groups processed sentences involved in local inferences similarly, presumably because establishing text coherence is essential to comprehension. However, knowledge differences emerged in the processing of the sentences involved in global inferences. The results of two experiments suggested that individuals with prior knowledge used their knowledge actively to generate global inferences during reading. It was argued that this anticipatory inferential process guides the construction of a mental model of a text, built partly with explicit information and partly with existing knowledge.