NDLI: Elaboration over a Discourse Facilitates Retrieval in Sentence Processing

Content Provider	PubMed Central
Author	Troyer, Melissa Hofmeister, Philip Kutas, Marta
Copyright Year	2016
Abstract	Language comprehension requires access to stored knowledge and the ability to combine knowledge in new, meaningful ways. Previous work has shown that processing linguistically more complex expressions (‘Texas cattle rancher’ vs. ‘rancher’) leads to slow-downs in reading during initial processing, possibly reflecting effort in combining information. Conversely, when this information must subsequently be retrieved (as in filler-gap constructions), processing is facilitated for more complex expressions, possibly because more semantic cues are available during retrieval. To follow up on this hypothesis, we tested whether information distributed across a short discourse can similarly provide effective cues for retrieval. Participants read texts introducing two referents (e.g., two senators), one of whom was described in greater detail than the other (e.g., ‘The Democrat had voted for one of the senators, and the Republican had voted for the other, a man from Ohio who was running for president’). The final sentence (e.g., ‘The senator who the {Republican/Democrat}had voted for…’) contained a relative clause picking out either the Many-Cue referent (with ‘Republican’) or the One-Cue referent (with ‘Democrat’). We predicted facilitated retrieval (faster reading times) for the Many-Cue condition at the verb region (‘had voted for’), where readers could understand that ‘The senator’ is the object of the verb. As predicted, this pattern was observed at the retrieval region and continued throughout the rest of the sentence. Participants also completed the Author/Magazine Recognition Tests (ART/MRT; Stanovich and West, 1989), providing a proxy for world knowledge. Since higher ART/MRT scores may index (a) greater experience accessing relevant knowledge and/or (b) richer/more highly structured representations in semantic memory, we predicted it would be positively associated with effects of elaboration on retrieval. We did not observe the predicted interaction between ART/MRT scores and Cue condition at the retrieval region, though ART/MRT interacted with Cue condition in other locations in the sentence. In sum, we found that providing more elaborative information over the course of a text can facilitate retrieval for referents, consistent with a framework in which referential elaboration over a discourse and not just local linguistic information directly impacts information retrieval during sentence processing.
Related Links	http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00374
Starting Page	374
File Format	PDF
ISSN	16641078
e-ISSN	16641078
Journal	Frontiers in Psychology
Volume Number	7
Language	English
Publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
Publisher Date	2016-03-15
Access Restriction	Open
Rights Holder	Frontiers Media S.A.
Subject Keyword	Research in Higher Education
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Psychology

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Elaboration over a Discourse Facilitates Retrieval in Sentence Processing

The processing of direct discourse: When a subordinate speech act sticks around

Use of Referential Discourse Contexts in L2 Offline and Online Sentence Processing

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Argument Retrieval and Reordering: An fMRI and EEG Study on Sentence Processing

The Varying Roles of Morphosyntax in Memory and Sentence Processing: Retrieval and Encoding Interference in Brazilian Portuguese

Distinctiveness and encoding effects in online sentence comprehension

SENTENCE PROCESSING AND DISCOURSE CONTEXT

Discourse coherence modulates use of predictive processing during sentence comprehension

A computational evaluation of two models of retrieval processes in sentence processing in aphasia

Elaboration over a Discourse Facilitates Retrieval in Sentence Processing

Similar Documents

Elaboration over a Discourse Facilitates Retrieval in Sentence Processing

The processing of direct discourse: When a subordinate speech act sticks around

Use of Referential Discourse Contexts in L2 Offline and Online Sentence Processing

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Argument Retrieval and Reordering: An fMRI and EEG Study on Sentence Processing

The Varying Roles of Morphosyntax in Memory and Sentence Processing: Retrieval and Encoding Interference in Brazilian Portuguese

Distinctiveness and encoding effects in online sentence comprehension

SENTENCE PROCESSING AND DISCOURSE CONTEXT

Discourse coherence modulates use of predictive processing during sentence comprehension

A computational evaluation of two models of retrieval processes in sentence processing in aphasia

Elaboration over a Discourse Facilitates Retrieval in Sentence Processing