From Words to Worlds: Twenty-Five Years of Advances in Situation Model Research

Abstract

Situation models—mental representations formed during comprehension—have evolved significantly beyond their origin in text-based research. Situation models are now used in accounts of comprehension across various media, including films, comics, and even real-world events. This article reviews four key developments in comprehension research over the past 25 years: grounded cognition, multitext comprehension, visual media comprehension, and everyday event comprehension. In all these lines of research, situation models continue to play an important role.