Better I than He: Personal perspective modulates counterfactual processing

Wang, Tianyue; Xu, Xiaodong

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105105

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Indeed, many variables can arguably influence participants' processing of counterfactual and fictional information and, consequently, N400 amplitude. Interesting examples that warrant further research include proneness to fantasy (e.g., Bacon et al, 2013;Hartung et al, 2017), familiarity with literary genres or authors (Black et al, 2018;Mar et al, 2006), level of transportation (i.e., immersion or absorption) into the text (e.g., Black & Barnes, 2021;Johnson, 2013), switching or cognitive flexibility ability (e.g., Ferguson et al, 2022;Guajardo et al, 2016), mentalizing ability (e.g., Mar et al, 2006;Perner et al, 2004) and, more recently, personal perspective (Wang & Xu, 2022).…”

Section: N400 In the Fictional World Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Language comprehension entails processing information that does not always align, or might even be inconsistent, with prior world knowledge. Two paradigmatic examples are the processing of counterfactual (e.g., Nieuwland, 2013;Wang & Xu, 2022) and fictional (e.g., Filik & Leuthold, 2013;Foy & Gerrig, 2014;Walsh et al, 2018) information. Counterfactual thinking involves the simulation of hypothetical events or alternative worlds that we know not to be true, frequently through "if-then" conditionals (e.g., ''If a lion could speak, we could understand him", Wittgenstein, 1958).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The cheese was green with… envy: An EEG study on minimal fictional descriptions

et al. 2023

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Section: N400 In the Fictional World Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cheese was green with… envy: An EEG study on minimal fictional descriptions

et al. 2023

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The influence of temporal information on online processing of counterfactual conditional sentences: Evidence from ERPs on temporal indicators

Liao

Kong

Jiang

2023

Journal of Neurolinguistics

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Exploring Pragmatic Factors on the Logical Relationships of Conditional Reasoning: A Study of Counterfactual and Hypothetical Conditionals

Kong,

Sun,

Jiang

2024

Behavioral Sciences

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Previous theories have established the mental model activation of processing different types of conditionals, stating that counterfactual conditionals expressing events that contradict known facts (e.g., “If it had rained, then they would not go to the park.”) are considered to trigger two mental models: (1) a hypothetical but factually wrong model (e.g., “rain” and “did not go to the park”) and (2) a corresponding real-world model (e.g., “did not rain” and “went to the park”). This study aimed to investigate whether pragmatic factors differentially influence readers’ comprehension and distinction between counterfactual and hypothetical conditional sentences in Mandarin Chinese. Participants were required to read and judge the comprehensibility of Chinese hypothetical and counterfactual conditionals, which were different in temporal indicators (past vs. future temporal indicators) in the antecedent. Different polarities (with vs. without negators) and different moving directions (different directional verbs: lai2 [come] vs. qu4 [go]) in the consequent were also manipulated. Linear mixed-effects models (LMEM) revealed that hypothetical conditionals (with future temporal indicators) were more comprehensible than counterfactual conditionals (with past temporal indicators). The semantic similarities within the subordinate clause revealed future temporal indicators had higher lexical–semantic co-occurrence than past indicators, suggesting that temporal indicators impact comprehension partly through lexical semantics in the premise, and hypothetical conditionals are more easily processed. However, the semantic similarity analysis of the main and the subordinate clauses showed no effect of temporal indicators, suggesting that lexical–semantic co-occurrence across clauses may not substantially contribute to the distinction between hypothetical conditionals and counterfactual conditionals. In conclusion, this study offers insights into the comprehension of Chinese conditional sentences by shedding light on the pragmatic factors influencing the activation of different mental models.

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Better I than He: Personal perspective modulates counterfactual processing

Cited by 3 publications

References 66 publications

The cheese was green with… envy: An EEG study on minimal fictional descriptions

The cheese was green with… envy: An EEG study on minimal fictional descriptions

The influence of temporal information on online processing of counterfactual conditional sentences: Evidence from ERPs on temporal indicators

Exploring Pragmatic Factors on the Logical Relationships of Conditional Reasoning: A Study of Counterfactual and Hypothetical Conditionals

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