Psychonarratology: from cognitive processes to readers’ narrative comprehension

Psychonarratology studies the cognitive processes of narrative comprehension in readers’ minds. There are thus close ties between psychonarratology and cognitive processes of mind while reading a narrative. This study aims to provide definitions and explanations for the two basic crucial concepts of ‘psychonarratology’ and ‘narrative’. First, it considers the role of readers in narrative comprehension and for this reader response theory and reception theory are elaborated on. Then, the cognitive processes which are active during narrative comprehension, are discussed. Three models of this cognitive processes are presented as well. ‘Narrative’, among other discourse genres, is the focus of this study. Because of its distinctive features, a narrative has its unique way of being understood. The processes of narrative comprehension will be considered and elaborated on in this study.