2.1.1.1 Top-down processes
Listeners use top-down processes when they use prior knowledge to
understand the meaning of a message. Prior knowledge can be knowledge of the
topic, the listening context, the text-type, the culture or other information stored in
long-term memory as schemata (typical sequences or common situations around
which world knowledge is organized). Listeners use content words and contextual
clues to form hypotheses in an exploratory fashion (Byrnes, 1984).