Frame-shifting and Sentential Integration

We consider di erent ways in which understanding a single word can a ect the overall construal of the discourse event. One such process is frame-shifting, semantic reanalysis in which elements of the existing message-level representation are mapped into a new frame. This view predicts that scenarios which occasion frame-shifting present a challenge to the processor di erent from that presented by lexical violations consistent with the currently active frame. To test this hypothesis, we manipulated the relationship between sentence nal words and their preceding contexts, and compared reading times for words which triggered frame-shifting, with those for equally unexpected but frame-consistent words. In both humorous and nonhumorous sentences, participants spent longer reading words which triggered frame-shifting than frame-consistent controls. The pattern of results suggests that the message-level representation involves hierarchically organized attribute-value structures, and includes causal and relational information. Traditional frame-based comprehension systems, however, cannot fully account for the dynamically adaptive nature of frame-shifting. An alternative is mentioned in brief.