Inference generation and comprehension monitoring are essential elements of successful reading comprehension. While both improve with age and reading development, little is known about when and how children make inferences and monitor their comprehension during the reading process itself. Over two experiments, we monitored the eye movements of two groups of children (age 8-13 years) as they read short passages and answered questions that tapped local (Experiment 1) and global (Experiment 2) inferences. To tap comprehension monitoring the passages contained target words which were consistent or inconsistent with the context. Comprehension question location was also manipulated with the question appearing before or after the passage. Children made local inferences during reading, but the evidence was less clear for global inferences. Children were sensitive to inconsistencies that relied on the generation of an inference, consistent with successful comprehension monitoring, although this was seen only very late in the eye movement record. Although question location had a large effect on reading times, it had no effect on global comprehension in one experiment and reading the question first had a detrimental effect in the other. We conclude that children appear to prioritise efficiency over completeness when reading, generating inferences spontaneously only when they are necessary for establishing a coherent representation of the text.

推理生成和理解监控是成功阅读理解的基本要素。虽然两者都随着年龄和阅读能力的发展而提高，但人们对儿童何时以及如何在阅读过程中进行推理和监控他们的理解知之甚少。在两个实验中，我们监测了两组儿童（8-13 岁）在阅读短文并回答利用局部（实验 1）和全局（实验 2）推理的问题时的眼球运动。挖掘理解监控段落包含与上下文一致或不一致的目标词。理解问题的位置也被操纵，问题出现在文章之前或之后。儿童在阅读过程中进行局部推理，但全局推理的证据不太清楚。儿童对依赖于推理产生的不一致性很敏感，这与成功的理解监测一致，尽管这在眼动记录中很晚才出现。尽管问题位置对阅读时间有很大影响，但在一个实验中它对全局理解没有影响，而在另一个实验中首先阅读问题有不利影响。我们得出的结论是，儿童在阅读时似乎优先考虑效率而不是完整性，只有在建立连贯的文本表示有必要时才会自发地产生推理。尽管问题位置对阅读时间有很大影响，但在一个实验中它对全局理解没有影响，而在另一个实验中首先阅读问题有不利影响。我们得出的结论是，儿童在阅读时似乎优先考虑效率而不是完整性，只有在建立连贯的文本表示有必要时才会自发地产生推理。尽管问题位置对阅读时间有很大影响，但在一个实验中它对全局理解没有影响，而在另一个实验中首先阅读问题有不利影响。我们得出的结论是，儿童在阅读时似乎优先考虑效率而不是完整性，只有在建立连贯的文本表示有必要时才会自发地产生推理。