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The functionality of memory‐based text processing can be described as making ready a range of information of potential relevance to readers’ ongoing understanding of texts. In past research, we have demonstrated that a reunion between two characters renews the accessibility of information mutually known to them, making the information ready for incorporation into ongoing comprehension. In two new experiments, we demonstrate how quickly this accessibility fades away again when the text engages other topics. In the general discussion, we describe a series of phenomena that cohere with our conceptualization of the readiness function of memory‐based processing.
Gerrig et al. (Thu,) studied this question.