Motive and opportunity: Some comments on LSA, HAL, KDC, and principal components

Abstract
The articles in this special issue describe new, highly quantitative techniques for exploring readers’ mental representations of discourse. These articles make a strong case that these techniques can be used to solve interesting theoretical and applied problems. As a result, researchers in the area of discourse comprehension and the mental representation of discourse should feel motivated to adopt these techniques. In some cases their ability to do so will be enhanced by the availability of well‐documented, easy‐to‐use computer software, complete with demonstrations and examples. In other cases, they are likely to be stymied by the unavailability of software and support.