Previous research has demonstrated that readers reinstate prior information when reading narratives. This reactivation process has been seen as automatic resonance operating irrespectively of whether the input information is beneficial for comprehension. On the other hand, other online processes, such as online inference, during reading have been shown to be influenced by different reading goals. Inference and reinstatement are identical in terms of readers accessing memory representations. Accordingly, this study investigates whether different reading goals will affect the reactivation of prior information. Participants read some narratives on which they subsequently answered some questions or evaluated their level of sympathy with the protagonist. For both conditions, reading times for critical sentences were significantly longer when earlier descriptions were inconsistent with the critical sentences. These results suggest that the reading goal did not affect the reactivation of prior information, and resonance processes function differently from online inferences.

  The author reexamined the textbase and the situation model of reading comprehension. New classification, ―fragmentary, horizontal and vertical ―, was made on the basis of relation between comprehension and readersʼprior knowledge. Concerning the vertical comprehension, effect of making graphically-based summaries on reading and recall was examined. Sixty-two undergraduates were assigned task of making two summaries and recall task. Each of the participants made both textual-based summaries and graphically-based summaries. The results suggested that making graphically-based summaries had strong effect on recall regarding additional information from readersʼknowledge. The findings were discussed as difference of processes between making graphically-based summaries and textualbased summaries while reading.

 This study proposes a theoretical framework of knowledge availability in order to discuss the roles of existing knowledge within the comprehension and uptake of information. The study first describes a number of prior studies that are concerned primarily with the qualitative aspects of knowledge influencing the comprehension and uptake of information. With particular emphasis on the importance of optimizing knowledge at the practical level of processing, this paper considers the structure of knowledge availability and argues that it consists of both accessibility and usability. Moreover, the paper discusses the possibilities of educational mediation that enhance knowledge availability and shows that availability is encouraged through appropriate knowledge representations and knowledge formation through re-composition. Finally,the paper touches on the significance of the theoretical framework of knowledge availability for research adopting the cognitive science approach.

  This study aims to clarify the impact of media concerning adolescent views of love and to establish a basis for developing media literacy about romantic love. The study analyzes the contents of four magazine articles and four websites about romantic love techniques. The results reveal the following findings: Firstly, there is a tendency for the recommended skills to focus on love for loveʼs sake. Secondly, romantic love skills based on traditional gender-roles were emphasized within the skill categories and their contents. Thirdly, the notions about love skills draw on unfounded empirical views, such as the personal opinions of readers in the magazines and the webmaster on the websites. Finally, almost all the skills recommended in the magazines and websites are concerned with the construction of relationships, with few skills relating to the maintenance and breakup of relationships. The results indicate that adolescents are likely to experience problems in their heterosexual relations because of using inappropriate skills picked up from inaccurate media treatments. Therefore, it is even more important in our rapidly-advancing Internet society for adolescents to develop literacy to judge the reliability of information sources in obtaining accurate information.