From simple agents to information sources: Readers' differential processing of story characters as a function of story consistency

SAUX, GASTON; VIBERT, NICOLAS; DAMPURÉ, JULIEN; BURIN, DEBORA I.; BRITT, M. ANNE; ROUET, JEAN-FRANÇOIS

Acta Psychologica

Elsevier B.V.

Año: 2021 vol. 212

0001-6918

The study examined how readers integrate information from and about multiple information sources into a memory representation. In two experiments, college students read brief news reports containing two critical statements, each attributed to a source character. In half of the texts, the statements were consistent with each other, in the other half they were discrepant. Each story also featured a non-source character (who made no statement). The hypothesis was that discrepant statements, as compared to consistent statements, would promote distinct attention and memory only for the source characters. Experiment 1 used short interviews to assess participants´ ability to recognize the source of one of the statements after reading. Experiment 2 used eye-tracking to collect data during reading and during a source-content recognition task after reading. As predicted, discrepancies only enhanced memory of, and attention to source-related segments of the texts. Discrepancies also enhanced the link between the two source characters in memory as opposed to the non-source character, as indicated by the participants´ justifications (Experiment 1) and their visual inspection of the recognition items (Experiment 2). The results are interpreted within current theories of text comprehension and document literacy.