Inferences during Reading

A study of inferencing from a wide variety of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives, as well as different levels of processing.

Inferencing is one of the most important processes necessary for successful comprehension during reading. Converging recent research to provide a broad and in-depth theoretical account of inferencing, this volume is a valuable resource for advanced courses on reading comprehension and for practitioners seeking to understand the processes that underlie inferencing.Inferencing is defined as 'the act of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true', and it is one of the most important processes necessary for successful comprehension during reading. This volume features contributions by distinguished researchers in cognitive psychology, educational psychology, and neuroscience on topics central to our understanding of the inferential process during reading. The chapters cover aspects of inferencing that range from the fundamental bottom-up processes that form the basis for an inference to occur, to the more strategic processes that transpire when a reader is engaged in literary understanding of a text. Basic activation mechanisms, word-level inferencing, methodological considerations, inference validation, causal inferencing, emotion, development of inferences processes as a skill, embodiment, contributions from neuroscience, and applications to naturalistic text are all covered as well as expository text, online learning materials, and literary immersion.