Memory structures that subserve sentence comprehension

McElree, Brian; Foraker, Stephani; Dyer, Lisbeth

doi:10.1016/s0749-596x(02)00515-6

Cited by 385 publications

(551 citation statements)

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“…An effect of the gender of the structurally unavailable noun on the retrieval of the antecedent of otra would constitute evidence for cue-based interference during sentence comprehension. This would be consistent with results from basic memory research that show retrieval interference as a major determinant of retrieval failure (Anderson and Neely, 1996;Keppel and Underwood, 1962;see Nairne, 2002a for a review; Waugh and Norman, 1965), and provide further insights to the major determinants of processing complexity during language comprehension (e.g., Gordon et al, 2001;Lewis et al, 2006;McElree, 2006;McElree et al, 2003;Van Dyke, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…One essential prediction from the cue-based retrieval interference hypothesis is that retrieval success can be modulated by the presence of other, perhaps more recent or similar representations in memory (from here on 'attractors'; Lewis et al, 2006;McElree, 2006;Wagers 1 Extant research has consistently shown that the retrieval process recruited during sentence processing is a direct-access operation, without a search through irrelevant representations (Lewis et al, 2006;McElree, 2008, 2009;McElree et al, 2003). This mechanism is possible only under a content-addressable system, where antecedent representations are elicited from memory via their content, and are directly accessible via the cues provided at the retrieval site.…”

Section: Cue-based Retrieval Interference During Processing Of Ellipsismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Event-related brain potentials index cue-based retrieval interference during sentence comprehension

2012

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Successful language use requires access to products of past processing within an evolving discourse. A central issue for any neurocognitive theory of language then concerns the role of memory variables during language processing. Under a cue-based retrieval account of language comprehension, linguistic dependency resolution (e.g., retrieving antecedents) is subject to interference from other information in the sentence, especially information that occurs between the words that form the dependency (e.g., between the antecedent and the retrieval site). Retrieval interference may then shape processing complexity as a function of the match of the information at retrieval with the antecedent versus other recent or similar items in memory. To address these issues, we studied the online processing of ellipsis in Castilian Spanish, a language with morphological gender agreement. We recorded event-related brain potentials while participants read sentences containing nounphrase ellipsis indicated by the determiner otro/a ('another'). These determiners had a grammatically correct or incorrect gender with respect to their antecedent nouns that occurred earlier in the sentence. Moreover, between each antecedent and determiner, another noun phrase occurred that was structurally unavailable as an antecedent and that matched or mismatched the gender of the antecedent (i.e., a local agreement attractor). In contrast to extant P600 results on agreement violation processing, and inconsistent with predictions from neurocognitive models of sentence processing, grammatically incorrect determiners evoked a sustained, broadly distributed negativity compared to correct ones between 400 and 1000 ms after word onset, possibly related to sustained negativities as observed for referential processing difficulties. Crucially, this effect was modulated by the attractor: an increased negativity was observed for grammatically correct determiners that did not match the gender of the attractor, suggesting that structurally unavailable noun phrases were at least temporarily considered for grammatically correct ellipsis. These results constitute the first ERP evidence for cue-based retrieval interference during comprehension of grammatical sentences.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Cue-based Retrieval Interference During Processing Of Ellipsismentioning

confidence: 99%

Event-related brain potentials index cue-based retrieval interference during sentence comprehension

2012

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“…They attributed their result to a reduction in similarity-based interference that occurs when the two NPs have different referential characteristics (i.e., common NPs refer via their description; pronouns and proper names refer directly to objects previously established in the discourse). Thus, on this account, interference effects are due to the presence of NPs with shared referential characteristics.(1a) The banker that praised [the barber/a barber/Joe/you/everyone] climbed the mountain.(1b) The banker that [the barber/a barber/Joe/you/everyone] praised climbed the mountain.Several researchers have suggested an alternative account, one that implicates retrieval as the source of interference effects (Lewis, Vasishth, & Van Dyke, 2006;McElree, Foraker, & Dyer, 2003;Van Dyke, 2002;Van Dyke & Lewis, 2003;Van Dyke & McElree, 2006). Although these are not the first sentence-processing theories to include a retrieval component, previous theories (e.g., Gibson, 1998Gibson, ,2000 have emphasized decay as the source of processing complexity, on Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Julie A.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interference effects from grammatically unavailable constituents during sentence processing.

Dyke¹

2007

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

190

241

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Evidence from 3 experiments reveals interference effects from structural relationships that are inconsistent with any grammatical parse of the perceived input. Processing disruption was observed when items occurring between a head and a dependent overlapped with either (or both) syntactic or semantic features of the dependent. Effects of syntactic interference occur in the earliest online measures in the region where the retrieval of a long-distance dependent occurs. Semantic interference effects occur in later online measures at the end of the sentence. Both effects endure in offline comprehension measures, suggesting that interfering items participate in incorrect interpretations that resist reanalysis. The data are discussed in terms of a cue-based retrieval account of parsing, which reconciles the fact that the parser must violate the grammar in order for these interference effects to occur. Broader implications of this research indicate a need for a precise specification of the interface between the parsing mechanism and the memory system that supports language comprehension.Keywords cue-based memory retrieval; interference; complexity effects; sentence processing; constraint-based parsing Interference effects in sentence processing are beginning to be recognized, but the conditions that give rise to these effects are not well understood (Gordon, Hendrick, & Johnson, 2001, 2004Van Dyke & Lewis, 2003;Van Dyke & McElree, 2006). colleagues (2001, 2004) observed that the classic processing advantage for subject-relative clauses over objectrelative clauses was reduced or eliminated when the second noun phrase (NP) in sentences such as 1a and 1b was either a pronoun (you or everyone) or a proper name (Joe). They attributed their result to a reduction in similarity-based interference that occurs when the two NPs have different referential characteristics (i.e., common NPs refer via their description; pronouns and proper names refer directly to objects previously established in the discourse). Thus, on this account, interference effects are due to the presence of NPs with shared referential characteristics.(1a) The banker that praised [the barber/a barber/Joe/you/everyone] climbed the mountain.(1b) The banker that [the barber/a barber/Joe/you/everyone] praised climbed the mountain.Several researchers have suggested an alternative account, one that implicates retrieval as the source of interference effects (Lewis, Vasishth, & Van Dyke, 2006;McElree, Foraker, & Dyer, 2003;Van Dyke, 2002;Van Dyke & Lewis, 2003;Van Dyke & McElree, 2006). Although these are not the first sentence-processing theories to include a retrieval component, previous theories (e.g., Gibson, 1998Gibson, ,2000 have emphasized decay as the source of processing complexity, on Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Julie A. Van NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript the basis of hypothesized memory demands that certain structures present for comprehenders. In contrast, approaches...

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“…For example, in contrast to the memory of modern digital computers which is typically addressed by location, human memory, whether for language or other domains, is addressed by content (McElree, Foraker, & Dyer, 2003). Likewise, memory in language may well be subject to the same kinds of interference effects observed in memory in other domains (Lewis, 2001).…”

Section: Language As Case Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive architecture and descent with modification☆

Marcus

2006

Cognition

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Against a background of recent progress in developmental neuroscience, some of which has been taken as challenging to the modularity hypothesis of Fodor (1983), this article contrasts two competing conceptions of modularity: sui generis modularity, according to which modules are treated as independent neurocognitive entities that owe nothing to one another, and descent-with-modification modularity, according to which current cognitive modules are understood to be shaped by evolutionary changes from ancestral cognitive modules. I argue that sui generis modularity is incompatible with a range of data, from the co-occurrence of deficits to the patterns of activation in neuroimaging studies, but that that same range of data is compatible with descent-with-modification modularity. Furthermore, I argue that the latter conception of modularity may have important implications for the practice and conception of fields such as developmental disorders and linguistics.

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Memory structures that subserve sentence comprehension

Cited by 385 publications

References 56 publications

Event-related brain potentials index cue-based retrieval interference during sentence comprehension

Event-related brain potentials index cue-based retrieval interference during sentence comprehension

Interference effects from grammatically unavailable constituents during sentence processing.

Cognitive architecture and descent with modification☆

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