Current models of story comprehension have three major deficiencies: (1) lack of experimental support for the inference processes they involve (. reliance on prediction); (2) indifference to 'kinds' of coherence (. local and global); and (3) inability to find interpretations at variable depths. I propose that comprehension is driven by the need to find a representation that reaches a 'coherence threshold'. Variable inference processes are a reflection of different thresholds, and the skepticism of an individual inference process determines how thresholds are reached. .
