Korean J Child Stud. 1991; 12(2): 111-129.

The Effect of Inconsistency on the Judgment of Importance in Story Comprehension

이야기의 중요성 판단에 미치는 정보의 비일관성 효과

김태련, 방희정, 최경숙, 조혜자

Tae Lyun Kim,Hee Jung Bang,Kyoung Sook Choi,Hye Ja Cho

The present study investigated how the inconsistency between episodes in a story affects judgment of the importance of a sentence. In experiment I, 120 college students read 4 stories containing 3 episodes and judged each of the sentences, one after another. The results of the importance rating showed that adult subjects were sensitive to inconsistency between episodes. The analysis of episodes revealed a significant difference between episodes in all of the 4 stories, with lowest importance ratings given to the inconsistent episodes. In experiment II, 220 children were sampled from a private school of middle S.E.S.Status. 2nd-, 4th- and 6th- graders read 2 stories, and judged the importance of the sentences. It was found that children were less sensitive to inconsistencies in a story than adults. Younger children had more difficulty in the integration of inconsistent information. Especially in the 2nd episode, the importance rating was affected by grade [F(2,2627)=195.52, p<.01], suggesting that 6th graders were more sensitive to inconsistencies than the younger children. In contrast to adults, 2nd graders gave high importance ratings to inconsistent sentences as well as to consistent sentences.