Conscious understanding during comprehension

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Abstract
This study investigated conscious understanding during narrative comprehension as revealed through the use of think‐aloud methodology. An analytical model of conscious understanding is presented, which assumes that inference and memory processes function together in order to construct a coherent, mental representation of a text. Three working memory operations were operationally identified in the think‐aloud protocols: (1) activation of relevant world knowledge in working memory, (2) maintenance of information in working memory, and (3) retrieval of text and prior thoughts from a long‐term memory store. These memory operations are functionally necessary to three kinds of inferences that also occurred in the protocols: (1) explanation, (2) association, and (3) prediction. The data revealed that understanding is, for the most part, explanation based. Memory processes serve to provide the information that readers use to explain sentences or thoughts that occur while they try to understand the text. Coherent understanding is achieved by keeping available via maintenance or retrieval higher order goal information that explains a number of actions and outcomes of a plan. The data are discussed with reference to current models of text understanding and the use of thinking‐aloud methods in the general study of discourse comprehension.