Filling Gaps: Inferences, Closure, and Affect Linking

Abstract

Orienting involves relatively high-level decisions about where to direct attention, and often draws on intertextual awareness. At the level of page or pixel, however, it is necessary for interpreters to flesh out the information on offer with their own supply of experience. As in so many aspects of interpretation, the top-down and bottom-up perspectives must interact and inform each other. In this chapter we look at how interpreters activate the data they are given and bring it to life in their minds.