Processing of temporal information in the reading process: Observations regarding narrative texts

The main purpose of the act of reading is to obtain information from the text. Thus, readers can create mental representations of what they read, which are stored in the long-term memory. Many modern theories on the processes of reading and comprehension also emphasize this phenomenon. Situation models are mental representations of the temporal and spatial location of the event/situation in the text, as well as of other information. In other words, situation models are mental processors that enable the integration of the mental representations of the web of relationships that make up the text with the readers' world knowledge. However, as the amount of information that the working memory system can simultaneously process in a given period is limited, it should be noted that there is a limit to the number of situation models that can be created while reading a text. Therefore, it is of great importance for the efficiency of reading and comprehension to be informed about the parameters of situation model creation and to make inferences on the relationship between these parameters and the surface structure of the text. One of the mental processors used to create situation models is linguistic structures, which provide information about the temporal structure of the text in question. Temporal units are important as they make references regarding the entities in the text, as well as because the changes in the temporal structure (time, aspect) affect the comprehension of the information structures in the text. Therefore, the mind follows and responds to the changes that occur in these structures throughout the process of reading. Literature review shows that the history of the efforts on understanding the role of time in the comprehension of the texts and the expression of events or situations in fictional and historical narratives goes all the way back to Aristotle. However, relevant studies investigate the concepts of mental models and situation models based on the findings obtained from cognitive studies. It was seen in these studies that linguistic structures related to time and aspect provide information about the temporal location of the events/situations in the text, as well as about whether the events/situations conveyed by guiding the mind throughout the text are compatible with the discourse flow of the text. Therefore, units related to time and aspect is of great importance as they provide the readers with the information they need in constructing a situation model. Accordingly, in this thesis, experimental investigations were carried out in order to reveal the role of units expressing temporality in making sense of the text. In light of the findings obtained after the said investigations, the roles of the units expressing temporality in making sense of the text and why information on these roles should be integrated into didactic processes aimed at improving reading were discussed. Thus, comprehensive didactic material that can be utilized in designing content and activities for the development of reading skills was obtained. How the cognitive system brings together visual elements to process information and to make sense of the text during reading is an important part of the relevant studies in the field of cognitive science. Accordingly, these studies focus on the structural units that make up the text and the interactions of these units with each other and their functions in the processes of reading and comprehension. Since reaction time in reading is an indicator of the cognitive processes that take place while making sense of the text during reading, it is frequently used in studies that aim to explain the processes of reading and comprehension. In studies on reaction time, the inconsistency paradigm is utilized for the monitoring and evaluation of the units that play a role in the formation of situation models. The basic assumption of this paradigm is that semantic variables such as aspect and time involve longer mental operations than phonological and orthographic variables. Therefore, the time spent reading sentences is related to the reading difficulty of those sentences. This assumption is taken as the dependent variable in such studies. In experiments where the inconsistency paradigm is used, two temporally varying target sentences are used, to which sentences compatible with one of these target sentences and incompatible with the other are added in the next stages. The temporal information contained in the target sentences is of great importance for the situation models created up to a given point, and by examining the reading times of the target sentences, inferences can be made about whether the temporal information is followed or not. So, the reading time of temporally compatible sentences is shorter than temporally incompatible sentences because the integration of temporally inconsistent information into the situation model requires longer cognitive processes. From this point of view, in this thesis, it is assumed that temporal information is used to make sense of the text and create situation models in the processes of reading and comprehension and that the changes in temporal information are followed. The findings obtained from relevant experimental studies found sensitivity to temporal information during reading, and they concluded that units that encode the aspects of the text, which are represented by temporal information, are placed throughout the text.