Epistemic vigilance and relevance in comment chains: evidence from classroom contexts

Abstract

This case study, framed by Relevance Theory, examines how initial contextual assumptions modulate the interpretation of the semantically underdetermined utterance “Maria lost her child” among ninth-grade students, manipulating four versions of one assumption — high-risk pregnancy, rape, adolescence, prior loss of custody — and observing their effects on comment chains. The findings suggest that assumptions act as cognitive attractors, guiding interpretations toward distinct moral axes; that optimal relevance is indexed to the original cognitive context and becomes fragile under informational asymmetry; and that, faced with misalignments and cumulative distortions, teams activate epistemic vigilance to block unlicensed inferences and abusive judgments. Finally, the results underscore the need for schools to incorporate pedagogical strategies that enable students to “read across contexts” in fragmented digital ecosystem.