Answering questions about discourse

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Abstract
The goal of this article is to provide an overview of recent advances in the study of the psychology of question answering. Investigators have identified numerous stages of question processing including question encoding, question categorization, selection of an answering strategy, memory search, comparison, and response. Understanders may adopt the strategy of directly retrieving a questioned fact or of judging its plausibility on the basis of general knowledge. Strategy selection is influenced by extrinsic factors such as questioning delay and explicit task instructions and intrinsic ones such as fact familiarity. Memory search in question answering is accomplished by the execution of search procedures that are linked to different conceptual categories of questions. Whereas wh‐questions are answered by formulating a reply from retrieved information, yes‐no questions require the comparison of the retrieved information to the interrogated idea. Although the componential analysis discussed in this article oversimplifies question processing, it has permitted useful advances in this field.