摘要：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..
