"A Theory of Sentence Memory as Part of A General Theory of Memory"

John R. Anderson, Raluca Budiu, Lynne M. Reder

Abstract

We describe an ACT-R model for sentence memory that extracts both a
parsed surface representation and a propositional representation.  In
addition, if possible for each sentence, pointers are added to a
long-term memory referent which reflects past experience with the
situation described in the sentence.  This system accounts for basic
results in sentence memory without assuming different retention
functions for surface, propositional, or situational information.
There is better retention for gist than for surface information
because of the greater complexity of the surface representation and
because of the greater practice of the reference for the sentence.
This model's only inference during sentence comprehension is to insert
a pointer to an existing referent.  Nonetheless, by this means it is
capable of modeling many effects attributed to inferential processing.
The ACT-R architecture also provides a mechanism for mixing the
various memory strategies that participants bring to bear in these
experiments.