ABSTRACT
To a skilled reader, comprehension is a simple, even enjoyable, process. However, underlying this intuitively simple activity is a complex interaction of basic cognitive processes. In order to deal with this complexity, researchers have concentrated on some aspects of comprehension and ignored others. Consider, for example, the model of comprehension proposed by Kintsch and van Dijk (1978; van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983). This model focuses on the role of long- and short-term memory in comprehension, but ignores the fact that understanding a text is largely a problem-solving task. In contrast, Trabasso and van den Broek (1985; Trabasso & Sperry, 1985; van den Broek, 1988) have developed a model of comprehension that emphasizes the role of problem solving and ignores the constraints imposed by long- and short-term memory. The result is two models of comprehension that are intuitively appealing and have generated substantial empirical support, but that have so little in common that they are sometimes viewed as competing alternatives.
