ABSTRACT
Readers (often implicitly) set a target level for the comprehension they pursue. This chapter presents a framework for conceptualizing reader’s Standards of Coherence (SoC), which aim to capture the relations between a reader’s cognitive processes and the comprehension they attain. It discusses factors in the task, the text, and the reader that influence the SoC, alone or in interaction, and before and during reading. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of various methods for investigating the operation of SoC, and of research questions that may guide future research.
