For three groups of 20 subjects each who participated reading time was examined when stories suggested goal and state inferences which could be made by readers when asked state questions, goal questions, or no questions at all. Order of inference statement was also used as a variable. In addition, inferable statements were either left in or out of the text. Subjects read an equal number (12) of stories. Analysis showed that state inference took longer time than goal inference. Also, it took longer for subjects to draw inferences when the inferrable statement was absent than when it was present in the text. The effect of inference type, and condition on reading comprehension is discussed.
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