Fluctuations in the Availability of Information During Reading: Capturing Cognitive Processes Using the Landscape Model

TLDR

The Landscape model (van den Broek et al., 1999) unifies multiple cognitive processes during reading by modeling fluctuating activations of text elements, thereby extending and complementing behavioral data on reading. The study examines how text element availability fluctuates during reading and demonstrates the Landscape model’s applicability by simulating two reading situations. The authors simulate text element availability in two reading situations using the Landscape model. The model demonstrates that readers’ purpose and background knowledge shape text element availability, allowing detection of inconsistencies.

Abstract

Abstract In this investigation, we examine the availability of text elements over the course of reading a text. We describe the Landscape model (van den Broek, Young, Tzeng, & Linderholm, 1999) that captures, in one theoretical framework, multiple cognitive processes during reading and the resulting fluctuating activations of text elements. To demonstrate the applicability of the Landscape model, we simulate the availability of text elements in two reading situations. First, the Landscape model is shown to incorporate readers� specific purpose for reading, affecting the availability of text elements as a function of different standards of coherence. Second, the Landscape model is shown to incorporate readers� background knowledge during reading, allowing readers to detect inconsistencies in a text. Theoretical accounts such as the Landscape model extend our understanding of—and to investigate—the process of reading by providing information about the availability of text elements in a unified theoretical framework, thereby extending and complementing behavioral data.