Comprehending Texts and Pictures: Interactions Between Linguistic and Visual Processes in Children and Adults
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: __Abstract__ \n \nOn Monday morning, the birthday boy was walking to school with another boy. They were \npassing a bag of potato chips back and forth and the birthday boy was trying to find out \nwhat his friend intended to give him for his birthday that afternoon. Without looking, the \nbirthday boy stepped off the curb at an intersection and was immediately knocked down by a \ncar. He fell on his side with his head in the gutter and his legs out in the road. His eyes were \nclosed, but his legs moved back and forth as if he were trying to climb over something. His \nfriend dropped the potato chips and started to cry. The car had gone a hundred feet or so \nand stopped in the middle of the road. The man in the driver's seat looked back over his \nshoulder. He waited until the boy got unsteadily to his feet. The boy wobbled a little. He \nlooked dazed, but okay. The driver put the car into gear and drove away. \nThese are the events that take place at the beginning of ‘A Small, Good Thing’, a \nshort story by Raymond Carver (1983). Later, the boy, whose name is Scotty, falls \nunconscious and is hospitalized. During the hours she visits home to rest, his mother \nreceives a series of strange calls that turn out to be the baker reminding her about the \nbirthday cake she had ordered. Despite these bleak circumstances, it is a work of fiction I \nthoroughly enjoyed. However, the reason I cite this mildly upsetting passage is that it \nserves to illuminate some themes that are important throughout the present thesis, in \nwhich I investigate text comprehension in children and adults. What mental processes \ntook place while reading that passage, and how did these lead to understanding?
Author: Jan Engelen
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2166929121