Abstract

Two experiments were performed to examine whether the distant causal antecedents can be integrated with consequent events and how gender cues affect the integration of causal information during text comprehension. In Experiment I, participants read each passage that contained a causal coherence break that could be resolved by reactivating a proposition presented earlier in the passage. After reading final sentences of the passages which were either consequents of the earlier mentioned causal antecedents(experimental condition) or locally coherent ones(control condition), participants named the target words that had occurred in the causal sentences presented at the beginning of the passages. Naming time of the target words was faster in the experimental condition than that in the control condition. This result was interpreted that causal information is quickly reactivated after encountering the consequents. In Experiment II, gender information given by the pronouns in the consequent sentences was manipulated. The gender cues of the pronouns were consistent with the names of the protagonists in the earlier mentioned causal sentences in one condition and contradictory in the other condition. The naming time of the target words that had occurred in the causal sentences was faster in the consistent condition than in the contradictory condition. The whole results were discussed in terms of the integration processes of causal information in the text comprehension.