Encoding differences between bridging and predictive inferences

Abstract

Four experiments examined encoding differences between bridging and predictive inferences. In Experiments 1 and 2, the relative inhibition effect found in Fincher‐Kiefer (1995) for an explicit target involved in a bridging inference was eliminated and relative facilitation was obtained when the target was presented one sentence after the sentence that elicited the inference. In Experiments 3 and 4, the relative facilitation effect was not obtained for explicit targets involved in predictive inferences, and the relative inhibition effect persisted as long as the text supported the inference. These data suggest that bridging inferences are encoded into the textbase, whereas predictive inferences are not. Predictive inferences are held in working memory, perhaps as part of the reader's situation model.