ABSTRACT
The communications we considered in the previous chapter consisted largely of single statements. The interpretation of these statements was based largely on previously acquired knowledge about not only the topic to which the statements pertained but also the type of situation in which the statements were made. Similar factors come into play when information describes a temporally related sequence of events and is conveyed in the form of a narrative or story. There are some additional considerations, however. People theoretically comprehend descriptions of a series of situationally constrained events or states of affairs by constructing an episode model of the sequence of occurrences as a whole. In doing so, the interpretation they give to each description in the sequence is likely to be influenced in part by the concepts and knowledge that they have used to interpret the earlier ones.
