On the comprehension of temporal order

Abstract

The effects of a match or mismatch between the order in which events occur and the order in which they are mentioned in a narrative were studied in two experiments. Events were connected either by a causal relation or by an arbitrary temporal relation. A mismatch between order of mention and order of occurrence did not significantly affect speed of comprehension of causally connected events. However, a mismatch significantly slowed down comprehension of arbitrarily connected events. It was suggested that in the case of causal events a mental model of their temporal order already exists, but for arbitrarily related events it must be constructed. This process is facilitated when order of mention matches the order of occurrence. There were no effects of order of mention on memory for temporal order, but there were memory differences depending on the connective used.