ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concept of validation during comprehension that has been proposed as a general and routine comprehension mechanism. It focuses on a simple two-step model of the cognitive processing of conflicting information in multiple documents. The situation model is often conceived as a referential representation of the state of affairs described in a text that integrates text information with prior knowledge. When readers process multiple texts on scientific or political issues that are relevant to them, they are often inclined to endorse one argumentative position in the controversy more than others. Schroeder, Richter, and Hoever directly investigated the effects of perceived plausibility on the integration of information into readers' situation model of the text content. Successful text comprehension involves not only the construction of a propositional text base that presents readers' memory for text as a network of propositions but also a situation model of the text content.
