This book presents a compelling study of the process of understanding by linking mental processes and information resources in interactional settings. By examining interaction in clinical and classroom settings, it introduces an interesting concept of process narratives—processes of interpretation resulting from an interplay of interaction and information resources. The approach describes the process of understanding in an easy to follow manner even for novices of cognitive studies. The book is divided into four parts with a total of fourteen chapters.

Part 1 clearly introduces the construction of process narratives by examining the interplay of interaction, cognition, and resources. Chapter 1 is a contextual application of process narratives in clinical settings as created by clinical radiologists and expressed by patients. It uses richly illustrated multimodal transcripts to clarify how creating and expressing process narratives is a product of various visuals, verbals, gestures, and material resources. Chapters 2 and 3 put forward interesting variations in the construction of process narratives by using interactional data from biology students to demonstrate the creation of shared interpretive frames of reference and collective cognition. Here the author elucidates how constraints of belief, which are previously developed process narratives, pose a challenge for the interpretation of information.

Chapter 4 examines selected studies of mental models to explain elements of cognition and belief. It is well demonstrated that a process-narratives approach provides a conceivable explanation of the complexities of understanding because it combines mental and material components.

Part 2 (chapters 6–8) addresses an interesting concept of ‘grey boxes’, which is defined as substitutes for missing information in the production of process narratives, to explain how people cognitively address information gaps. Chapters 6 and 7 illustrate how restrictions on information by the teacher act as a trigger of interpretive contingencies in the students’ understanding. Chapter 8, a bridge to Part 3, illuminates the occurrence of ‘contingencies of interpretation’ with implications that will be of interest to teachers, health professionals, and their trainers.

Part 3 discusses discourse frameworks (‘material information resources and communication patterns’) and the development of process narratives and grey boxes by comparing the professional cultures of teachers and radiologists. Chapter 9 focuses on clinical patient education to model the relationship of a discourse framework to patients’ successful understanding of radiology data and argues that discourse framework can be customised to positively suit patients’ needs. Chapter 10 provides a shift by introducing the notion of a restrictive discourse framework, that is, information restrictions by teachers and its effect on the understanding and selection of recall components by students. Chapter 11 logically asserts that the development of understanding is a consequence of cognitive development of discourse frameworks. The relationship between discourse framework and the development of process narratives is well summarised in Chapter 12.

Part 4 (chapters 13 and 14) raises important implications of the study for practitioners, that is, how to manage interpretive contingencies in improving understanding for students and patients. It concludes by calling for modifications in professional cultures that foster interpretive contingencies and limit understanding of information recipients.

Overall, this book offers a clear interpretation of the various complexities surrounding cognitive processes, and provides numerous multimodal transcripts, which makes the argument easy to follow. This book is particularly useful for teachers, trainers, health practitioners, and scholars.