The role of short-term memory in discourse comprehension: some reflections on the impact of Kintsch and van Dijk (1978)

ABSTRACT

The limited capacity of the short-term working memory system is a major cognitive bottleneck that limits our ability to create a coherent mental representation of a text. The earliest cognitive models of comprehension proposed top-down, schema-based solutions to this problem. In 1978, Walter Kintsch, in collaboration with Teun van Dijk, offered a more-bottom-up approach. The goal of this commentary is to both place this contribution in context and explore some of the research that it inspired.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.