Janice M. Keenan (1993) Thoughts About the Minimalist Hypothesis
. Psycoloquy: 4(02) Reading Inference (3)
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Psycoloquy 4(02): Thoughts About the Minimalist Hypothesis
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MINIMALIST HYPOTHESIS
Commentary on Garnham on Reading-Inference
Janice M. Keenan
Psychology Department
University of Denver
Denver, CO 80208
jkeenan@denver.du.edu
Abstract
The minimalist position offers a good summary of much,
but not all, of the data on inferencing. It is, however, to be
faulted for being virtually impossible to falsify. Although
minimalism provides a good summary of the data that was available
at the time of its formulation, it should be noted that many new
studies suggest that occurrence of inferences may not be as minimal
as indicated by initial data.
Keywords
constructionism, inference, mental models, minimalism,
reading, text comprehension.
References
- Bransford, J.D., Barclay, J.R., & Franks, J.J. (1972). Sentence memory: A constructive versus interpretive approach. Cognitive Psychology, 3, 193-209.
- Garnham, A. (1992). Minimalism versus constructionism: A false dichotomy in theories of inference during reading. PSYCOLOQUY, 3(63) reading-inference-1.1
- Keenan, J.M., Baillet, S.D., & Brown, P. (1984). The effects of causal cohesion on comprehension and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 115-126.
- McKoon, G. & Ratcliff, R. (1992). Inference during reading. Psychological Review, 99, 440-466.
- Murray, J.D., Klin, C.M., & Myers, J.L. (in press). Forward inferences in narrative text. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition.
- Noordman, L.G.M. & Vonk, W. (1992). Reader's knowledge and the control of inference in reading. Language and Cognitive Processes, 7, 373-391.
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- Sanford, A.J., & Garrod, S.C. (1981). Understanding written language: Explorations in comprehension beyond the sentence. New York: Wiley.
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- Whitney, P., Ritchie, B.G., & Crane, R.S. (in press). The effect of foregrounding on readers' use of predictive inferences. Memory & Cognition.