ABSTRACT
The Construction-Integration (Cn model (e.g., Kintsch, 1988, 1992) utilizes a fixed-capacity working memory buffer. Our work extends the CI model by giving it a dynamic, capacity-constrained working memory system. At the same time, our work extends the work of Just, Carpenter, and their colleagues on single sentence processing in a capacity-constrained working memory system (e.g., Just & Carpenter, 1992; McDonald, Just, & Carpenter, 1992) by examining connected discourse processing. The first section of the chapter briefly reviews the CI model in order to provide a context for the contrast with the capacity-constrained models. We then compare the results of CI and capacity-constrained CI (3Cn simulations and examine their predictive ability for behavioral recall of text passages.
