GERNSBACHER, M. A., & FAUST, M. (1991b). The role of suppression in sentence comprehension. In G. B. Simpson (Ed.), Comprehending word and sentence (pp. 97-128). Amsterdam: North Holland.

Memory cells are automatically activated by incoming stimuli. Once activated, the information they represent can be used by cognitive processes. Furthermore, according to the Structure Building Framework, once activated, memory cells transmit processing signals. These processing signals either suppress or enhance the activation of other memory cells. So, once memory cells are activated, two mechanisms modulate their level of activation: they are suppression and enhancement.
In the first half of the chapter, we illustrate the vital role that suppression plays in sentence comprehension by demonstrating how suppression fine tunes the meanings of words. In the second half of the chapter, we illustrate the vital role that suppression plays in sentence comprehension by documenting that less-skilled comprehenders suffer from less-efficient suppression mechanisms.