Sequential Coherence in Sentence Pairs Enhances Imagery during Comprehension: An Individual Differences Study

The present study investigates how sequential coherence in sentence pairs (events in sequence vs. unrelated events) affects the perceived ability to form a mental image of the sentences for both auditory and visual presentations. In addition, we investigated how the ease of event imagery affected online comprehension (word reading times) in the case of sequentially coherent and incoherent sentence pairs. Two groups of comprehenders were identified based on their self-reported ability to form vivid mental images of described events. Imageability ratings were higher and faster for pairs of sentences that described events in coherent sequences rather than non-sequential events, especially for high imagers. Furthermore, reading times on individual words suggested different comprehension patterns with respect to sequence coherence for the two groups of imagers, with high imagers activating richer mental images earlier than low imagers. The present results offer a novel link between research on imagery and discourse coherence, with specific contributions to our understanding of comprehension patterns for high and low imagers.本研究旨在探讨句对的序列连贯性（按时间顺序排布的事件与无关事件），对听觉呈现与视觉呈现下，个体为语句构建心理表象（mental image）的感知能力的影响。此外，本研究还考察了在序列连贯与不连贯的句对情境中，事件表象的易形成性如何影响在线理解（单词阅读时长）。本研究根据被试自我报告的、为所描述事件构建鲜明心理表象的能力，将其划分为两组。相较于描述非序列事件的句对，描述连贯序列事件的句对的可表象性评分更高，且评分耗时更短，这一现象在高表象能力者群体中尤为显著。进一步而言，针对单个单词的阅读时长分析显示，两组被试在序列连贯性相关的理解模式上存在差异：高表象能力者相较于低表象能力者，能更早激活更为丰富的心理表象。本研究结果为表象研究与语篇连贯性（discourse coherence）研究搭建了全新的关联，同时为理解高低表象能力者的理解模式提供了独到的学术见解。