Interactive processes in reading comprehension∗

Comprehension during reading involves higher‐order processing of discourse structure and the reader's knowledge in interaction with lower‐level word coding processes. The interactions between these “top‐down” and “bottom‐up” processes must be taken into account in models of comprehension. The suggestion made in this paper is that word codingand sentence comprehension processes must execute fast enough to sustain active text memories. It is argued that memory deactivation due to breakdowns in the synchrony of coding and comprehension subcomponents is a major source of individual skill differences in reading comprehension. Four lines of evidence that supports this hypothesis are reviewed: (1) Less skilled readers show slower or less accurate performance on certain verbal processing tasks. (2) Such less skilled readers do not necessarily have deficient general short‐term memory capacity. (3) Normal reading is disrupted by relatively minor interferences with coding processes. (4) The availability of relevant memories is necessary for efficient comprehension of sentences. These facts are consistent with a time‐sharing model of process interactions that assumes that memories relevant for comprehension are vulnerable to deactivation when coding processes are inefficient.