ABSTRACT
The successful comprehension of a narrative necessarily involves the construction of a coherent mental representation of the narrated events, states, and actions, a situation model (van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983). Trabasso and colleagues have provided clear evidence that causal relations play a central role in establishing these coherent representations (e.g., Trabasso & Magliano, 1996; Trabasso & Sperry, 1985; Trabasso & Suh, 1993; Trabasso & van den Broek, 1985). However, events in narratives are related on several other dimensions, for example, time, space, and protagonists. The work discussed in this chapter reports on progress being made toward an integrated account of how the multiple dimensions of situations play a role in narrative comprehension.
