Reanalysis in sentence processing: Evidence against current constraint-based and two-stage models

Roger P.g. Van Gompel, Martin J. Pickering, Matthew J. Traxler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Two eye-tracking experiments investigated processing of VP-NP attachment ambiguities. Experiment 1 tested sentences in which there was an initial bias toward VP attachment. Readers experienced more difficulty when semantic information disambiguated the sentences to NP attachment than when it disambiguated them to VP attach ment or when it was consistent with tither analysis. Experiment 2 tested sentences in which there was no initial bias toward either VP or NP attachment. Readers experienced more difficulty when semantic information disambiguated the sentences to NP attachment or VP attachment than when it was consistent with either analysis. We argue th;lt these results challenge theories that assume a competition mechanism, such as constraint-based lexicalist accounts (e.g., MacDonald, Pearlmutter, & Seidenberg, 1994; McRae, Spivey-Knowlton, & Seidenberg, 1998; Spivey-Knowlton & Sedivy, 1995) and fixed-choice two-stage models (e.g., Frazier, 1987). We interpret the results in terms of the unrestricted race model (cf. Traxler, Pickering, & Clifton, 1998). (C) 2001 Academic Press.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)225-258
Number of pages34
JournalJournal of Memory and Language
Volume45
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2001

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • sentence processing
  • syntactic ambiguity resolution
  • reanalysis
  • competition
  • SYNTACTIC AMBIGUITY RESOLUTION
  • RELATIVE-CLAUSE SENTENCES
  • LATE-CLOSURE STRATEGY
  • EYE-MOVEMENTS
  • ARGUMENT STRUCTURE
  • LEXICAL AMBIGUITY
  • GARDEN-PATHS
  • PROBABILISTIC CONSTRAINTS
  • PROPOSAL MECHANISM
  • FIXATION TIMES

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