Constructing Mental Models in Literary Reading: The Role of Interpretive Inferences

To construct a coherent mental model of a text, readers generate inferences. This chapter draws on cognitive theories of text and discourse to examine how and under what conditions readers construct interpretive inferences about nonliteral aspects of literary works. We examine what role these inferences play in literary sense-making and how they influence readers’ comprehension of and experience with the text. We describe the variety of measures used to examine the interactive effects of task (e. g., reading goals), text (e. g., genre, complexity, foregrounding), and reader (e. g., expectations, prior knowledge, epistemology). We also review the types of questions that allow examination of when and how interpretive inferences are constructed. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and educational implications of these findings and explore potential future directions in this area of research.