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Part of
Experiencing Fictional Worlds
Edited by Benedict Neurohr and Lizzie Stewart-Shaw
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 32] 2019
► pp. 33–52

Chapter 3
A predictive coding approach to Text World Theory

Text World Theory offers a beneficial tool for the analysis of texts and the structures of fictional worlds. A significant and fascinating topic is the cognitive and psychological reality behind the text-world structures identified by an expert researcher of literature and if they are experienced when read by a given individual for pleasure. Using a neurological model of perceptual processing called Predictive Coding, this chapter sets out to examine how a text might be processed in real time by a reader. This process must also be sensitive to readers’ prior knowledge in keeping with Text World Theory, and whether it is the first time the text is read or not. It will be shown that while the analyses provided by Text World Theory are valid and useful for describing fictional constructions, it is possible to be even more precise when describing the formation of text-worlds in a real-time reading process.
Keywords: Text World Theory, Predictive Coding, predictive model, error signal, processing, cognitive linguistics
Article outline
  • 3.1Introduction
  • 3.2Predictive Coding
  • 3.3Predictive Coding, texts and text-worlds
  • 3.4A text-world analysis
  • 3.5A Predictive Coding analysis
  • 3.6Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 21 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.32.03neu
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Norledge, Jessica
2020. Building The Ark: Text World Theory and the evolution of dystopian epistolary. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 29:1 ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Statham, Simon
2020. The year’s work in stylistics 2019. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 29:4 ► pp. 454 ff. DOI logo

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