Abstract: The three experiments were performed to investigate the difference between forward inference and backward inference, and the relationship between these two kinds of inferences and prediction. 3×2 independent design , longer texts material and response time index were used in both experiment 1 and experiment 2 which separately used sentence verification and naming method. On the basis of experiment 2, experiment 3 used 2×2 independent design and amended the experiment material according to the research demand. Experiment 1 showed that there is a significant difference between forward inference and backward inference. Experiment 2 indicated that there is no significant difference. In addition, forward inference make no significant difference among the three levels of prediction, so do the backward inference in experiment 1 and experiment 2. Interactive effects are founded between prediction and the two kinds of inferences in experiment 3

Key words: text comprehension, forward inference, backward inference, Prediction