Semantic associations and elaborative inference

In this article, a theoretical framework is proposed for the inference processes that occur during reading. According to the framework, inferences can vary in the degree to which they are encoded. This notion is supported by three experiments in this article that show that degree of encoding can depend on the amount of semantic-associative information available to support the inference processes. In the experiments, test words that express possible inferences from texts are presented for recognition. When testing is delayed, with other texts and test items intervening between a text and its test word, performance depends on the amount of semantic-associative information in the text. If the inferences represented by the test words are not supported by semantic associates in the text, they appear to be only minimally encoded (replicating McKoon & Ratcliff, 1986), but if they are supported by semantic associates, they are strongly encoded. With immediate testing, only 250 ms after the text, performance is shown to depend on semantic-associative information, not on textual information. This suggests that it is the fast availability of semantic information that allows it to support inference processes.