The article is devoted to the theoretical review of two concepts of text comprehension within the framework of psycholinguistic research, namely, the theories of A.A. Zalevskaya and A.I. Novikov. The comparative analysis of the scientists’ works on the stated problematic allowed to define and briefly describe the main regularities of the comprehension process highlighted by both scientists. The fundamental principles, according to both authors, are the active role of the recipient in the process of text perception, the multidimensional and implicit nature of the understanding process itself, the mechanism of which, due to its dual nature, can be compared to projection. When analysing the process of text comprehension, researchers emphasize the important role of key words as dominant units of the text, as material ‘carriers of meaning’ providing the coagulation and unfolding of information contained in the text. The detailed analysis allowed us to show that both A.A. Zalevskaya and A.I. Novikov emphasise the relevance and significance of using an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the problem of understanding and to develop an integrative model to describe it. The article gives a brief description of the models of understanding developed by the scientists within the framework of their experimental research: A.A. Zalevskaya’s spiral model and A.I. Novikov’s interactive model, which were developed in the works of their pupils. As a general conclusion, the authors of the article suggest considering the prospect of integrating these two areas of research within the framework of text psycholinguistics, which hypothetically could provide a comprehensive systematic approach to solving the ‘eternal’ problem of understanding.
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