ABSTRACT
A basic principle in writing is that ideas should flow easily, one from another. In this way, as each new idea is introduced, it is easily integrated with the information that immediately precedes it. That is, the text should always be locally coherent. Models of text comprehension agree that readers make use of the information in working memory when integrating each new sentence into the text representation. There is less agreement about when a sentence is integrated with information that is not currently in working memory. Models of comprehension differ in the extent to which it is assumed that readers will access relevant distant information when the text is locally coherent (e.g., Fletcher & Bloom, 1988; Glenberg & Langston, 1992; Graesser, Singer, & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1988; Kintsch & van Dijk, 1978; McKoon & Ratcliff, 1992; Singer, Graesser, & Trabasso, 1994).
