A primary goal of research in reading comprehension is to specify the cognitive processes involved in the construction of the mental representation of a text, as well as the nature of that representation. This serves the larger goal of developing well-specified general theories of language processing, which are essential for the design of educational programs and interventions, and potentially contribute to the effective use of information technology by allowing improvements in the readability of text.
The specific aim of the proposed research is to investigate comprehension of narratives in which multiple properties, or dimensions, such as time and character's goals, are manipulated. Much recent research aimed at narrative comprehension has focused on the processing of narratives in which only one dimension is manipulated, and research aimed at multidimensional narratives has typically used a correlational research strategy that leaves unanswered questions about how the multiple dimensions affect one another. In particular, the effect of time shifts of varying lengths on the representation of characters' pursuit of goals will be tested, to examine how these two dimensions interact. Processing of goal-related information will be measured via reading time and the speed and accuracy with which participants are able to identify goal-related words as having appeared in stories. Thus, the experiments will generate needed experimental data to further develop theories of narrative processing.
