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Reading Comprehension in Educational Settings
Edited by José A. León and Inmaculada Escudero
[Studies in Written Language and Literacy 16] 2017
► pp. 63–99

Chapter 3
Causal inferences in reading comprehension

State of the art

| Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
| UNED

In recent decades, the study of inferences and, in particular, causal inferences, has acquired great importance. Inferences are now considered to be the key to our understanding and interpretation of reality and one of the bases of human cognition. Causal inferences, such as backward and forward inferences, are crucial components in discourse comprehension and reading comprehension processes because they are required in order to establish a coherent representation that provides a basis to predict and explain behaviors. In this chapter, we focus on several aspects related to causal inferences such as its universal character in cognitive processing and reading comprehension and its underlying neural correlates. Finally, we focus on the influence of different text genre on causal inferences generation.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Causality and causal inferences
  • 3.Types of causal inferences
  • 4.A frame of underlying processes to analyze causal inferences
    • 4.1Are causal inferences universal in human cognition? How language may affect comprehension processes and cognition
    • 4.2Are causal inferences generated in multiple contexts?
      • a.Clinical contexts
      • b.Emotional contexts
      • c.Social contexts
    • 4.3Conceptually driven (top-down) and data-driven (bottom-up) processes. When do conceptually driven inferences develop?
    • 4.4When do we develop the ability to make causal inferences?
    • 4.5Neural basis of causal inferences
    • 4.6The influence of text characteristics on causal relations and causal inferences
  • 5.Summary
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 19 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/swll.16.03leo
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