Constructing a knowledge representation from multiple texts requires the integration of information across texts. The aim of the current study was to investigate how elementary school students integrate information across multiple text passages and, particularly, whether students use information from a prior text to improve understanding of a current text. A sample of 105 children in grades 4 and 6 participated in the experiment. The multiple-text integration paradigm was used to study integration processes across texts during reading. Recall and (application) questions were used to investigate the extent to which information from different text passages was integrated into knowledge representations after reading. Individual differences in reading comprehension ability and working memory were also considered. The results indicate that children in both grades spontaneously activate information from an earlier text to aid their understanding during reading, and that they integrate information across texts in their knowledge representations. This was the case regardless of grade or individual differences in reading-comprehension ability and working memory. These findings provide insight into the mechanisms that may be involved in the integration of information across texts.

Abstract This chapter describes how comprehension and meaningful learning processes are related. It explains how comprehension processes can contribute to meaningful learning and how knowledge representations in turn affect comprehension processes. Both passive and strategic reading processes are important in comprehending texts and constructing knowledge representations from texts. An overview is provided of reading strategies that are particularly effective improving learning from texts. It is suggested that consolidation and enrichment processes play an important role in effective learning strategies. Furthermore, the chapter describes reader and text characteristics that affect the process of constructing meaningful knowledge representations from texts. It concludes with a summary of ways to improve learning from texts.

This study examined the contributions of developmental changes in social-cognitive ability throughout adolescence to the development of narrative comprehension. We measured the effects of sensitivity to the causal structure of narratives and of sensitivity to differences in social-cognitive processing demands on narrative recall by children (8–10 years old), adolescents (13–15 years old), and adults (19–21 years old). Generalized mixed-effects models for dichotomous variables revealed that social-cognitive processing demands of story elements predicted differences in narrative recall between the age groups, over and above the causal importance of story elements. Children's and adolescents' recall of the narrative differed from that of adults, and these differences were most apparent for social-cognitive aspects of the narrative. These findings suggest that immature social-cognitive abilities limit narrative comprehension in childhood and adolescence and, in doing so, contribute to our understanding of the interaction between reader characteristics and text characteristics in the development of narrative comprehension.

Learning often involves integration of information from multiple texts. The aim of the current study was to determine whether relevant information from previously read texts is spontaneously activated during reading, allowing for integration between texts (experiment 1 and 2), and whether this process is related to the representation of the texts (experiment 2). In both experiments, texts with inconsistent target sentences were preceded by texts that either did or did not contain explanations that resolved the inconsistencies. In experiment 1, the reading times of the target sentences introducing inconsistencies were faster if the preceding text contained an explanation for the inconsistency than if it did not. This result demonstrates that relevant information from a prior text is spontaneously activated when the target sentence is read. In experiment 2 free recall was used to gain insight into the representation after reading. The reading time results for experiment 2 replicated the reading time results for experiment 1. However, the effects on reading times did not translate to measurable differences in text representations after reading. This research extends our knowledge about the processes involved in multiple text comprehension: Prior text information is spontaneously activated during reading, thereby enabling integration between different texts.

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Narratives typically consist of information on multiple aspects of a situation. In order to successfully create a coherent representation of the described situation, readers are required to monitor all these situational dimensions during reading. However, little is known about whether these dimensions differ in the ease with which they can be monitored. In the present study, we examined whether children in Grades 4 and 6 monitor four different dimensions (i.e., emotion, causation, time, and space) during reading, using a self-paced reading task containing inconsistencies. Furthermore, to explore what causes failure in inconsistency detection, we differentiated between monitoring processes related to availability and validation of information by manipulating the distance between two pieces of conflicting information. The results indicated that the monitoring processes varied as a function of dimension. Children were able to validate emotional and causal information when it was still active in working memory, but this was not the case for temporal and spatial information. When context and target information were more distant from each other, only emotionally charged information remained available for further monitoring processes. These findings show that the influence of different situational dimensions should be taken into account when studying children's reading comprehension.