Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that the activation of predictive inferences can be affected both by the immediately preceding context and by the information contained in an earlier portion of a passage. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the same immediate context can result in the activation of different inferences when different character trait descriptions of the protagonist were presented earlier in the passage. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the trait descriptions produced activation of a specific inference; this occurred even though the immediately preceding context, in isolation, led to the activation of a different inference. The results of both experiments offer further support for the view that inference activation occurs as a result of the combined influence of the immediate context and the earlier portions of a text.
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This research was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant SBR-9631040, awarded to E.J.O.
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Guéraud, S., Tapiero, I. & O’Brien, E.J. Context and the activation of predictive inferences. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 15, 351–356 (2008). https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.15.2.351
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.15.2.351