Abstract: The processing of temporal information has been a hot topic in contemporary reading psychology. Previous researches results were inconsistent on the nature, the dimensional features, and the retrieval mechanism of temporal information. The Strong Iconicity Assumption and the Scenario Model were the most significant accounts on this problem. This study assumes that there are two stages during the processing of temporal information. The first stage is to process time words and the updating of a situation model, and the second stage is to access and integrate the previous information. According to the Two-Phase Model, the Strong Iconicity Assumption corresponds with the first stage, while the Scenario Model explains the second stage. That is to say, these two models account for the different stage of temporal processing. That is the possible reason why they can not come to an agreement. We try to integrate these two accounts in terms of the Two-Phase Model. In this study, we used classic experimental methods of cognitive psychology and eye tracking technique to explore the nature of temporal information representation, the dimensional features, and the activation and inhibition mechanism in the retrieval process. All of these experiments provide behavioral and eye-tracking evidences for the Two-Phase Model. Therefore, we solved the disagreement between the Strong Iconicity Assumption and the Scenario Model. The study provides theoretical and methodological implications for the solving of some other issues in text reading.

Key words: temporal information, the Strong Iconicity Assumption, the Scenario Theory, Two-Phase Model