The role of verb tense and verb aspect in the foregrounding of information during reading

Abstract

In three experiments, we explored the role of verb tense and verb aspect in subjects' construction of mental models while reading. In the first and second experiments, subjects read paragraphs in which verb tense was manipulated to assign current and past attributes (job descriptions) to a main character. The results showed that on-line accessibility was faster for current attributes. The results of the third experiment showed that verb aspect manipulations regarding character actions affect the speed at which the characters are available for recognition.