ABSTRACT
An important component of our assumed model of text comprehension is the representation of knowledge and beliefs. This information is arranged into viewpoints, representing different possible views of the world, which are linked into a hierarchical arrangement. Each viewpoint has its own internal logic, which defines possible situations and relations between them. The audience carries out inference during joke comprehension, which may lead to predictions about the course of comprehension, and which uses various methods to fill in implicit information. As a result of inference, various kinds of differences between viewpoints may occur, caused by discrepancies between the internal logics. Inference is carried out at each stage of the input, and steps may vary in how much cognitive effort they require. Different interpretations of the text may be of different levels of salience, and there may be a need to revise interpretations during comprehension.
