Over-specified referring expressions impair comprehension: An ERP study

Engelhardt, Paul E.; Demiral, Şükrü Barış; Ferreira, Fernanda

doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2011.07.004

Cited by 68 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Interestingly, Sedivy (2003) suggested that the presence of a color-contrasted competitor did not facilitate referent identification for color-modified descriptions in an unpublished experiment. Although such a finding is inconsistent with other studies that showed that comprehenders contrastively interpret non-gradable properties (Hanna et al, 2003) and with evidence that redundant color modifiers are hard to process (Engelhardt et al, 2011), it lends provisional support to the meaning-based early redundancy hypothesis.…”

Section: Violations Of Gricean Maxims 28contrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Our findings may also seem inconsistent with Engelhardt et al (2011). In their study, participants took longer to identify the target object following redundancy of both size and color adjectives, though this behavioural data showed a larger redundancy effect with size adjectives, and there was no significant adjective × context interaction in an N400-like effect that occurred at around 450-570ms following redundant adjective onset.…”

Section: Violations Of Gricean Maxims 41contrasting

confidence: 90%

“…Evidence for this hypothesis comes from Engelhardt, Demiral, and Ferreira (2011), who found that redundant modifiers impair comprehension. In their study, participants were shown a visual display of two objects, before listening to an instruction containing either size-or colormodified descriptions, as in "Look at the big/red star".…”

Section: Violations Of Gricean Maximsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How do violations of Gricean maxims affect reading?

Fukumura

Gompel

2017

Journal of Memory and Language

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Four eye-tracking experiments examined how violations of the Gricean maxim of quantity affect reading. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that first-pass reading times for size-modified definite nouns (the small towel) were longer when the modifier was redundant, as the context contained one rather than two possible referents, whereas first-pass times for bare nouns (the towel) were unaffected by whether the context contained multiple referents that resulted in ambiguity. Experiment 3 showed that unlike redundant size modifiers, redundant color modifiers did not increase first-pass times. Experiment 4 confirmed this finding, demonstrating that the effect of redundancy was dependent on the meaning of the modifier. We propose that initial referential processing is led by the lexico-semantic representation of the referring expression rather than Gricean expectations about optimal informativeness: Redundancy of a size-modifier immediately disrupts comprehension because the processor fails to activate the referential contrast implied by the meaning of the modifier, whereas referential ambiguity has no immediate effect, as it allows the activation of at least one semantically-compatible referent. VIOLATIONS OF GRICEAN MAXIMS 1 AbstractFour eye-tracking experiments examined how violations of the Gricean maxim of quantity affect reading. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that first-pass reading times for size-modified definite nouns (the small towel) were longer when the modifier was redundant, as the context contained one rather than two possible referents, whereas first-pass times for bare nouns (the towel) were unaffected by whether the context contained multiple referents that resulted in ambiguity. Experiment 3 showed that unlike redundant size modifiers, redundant color modifiers did not increase first-pass times.Experiment 4 confirmed this finding, demonstrating that the effect of redundancy was dependent on the meaning of the modifier. We propose that initial referential processing is led by the lexicosemantic representation of the referring expression rather than Gricean expectations about optimal informativeness: Redundancy of a size-modifier immediately disrupts comprehension because the processor fails to activate the referential contrast implied by the meaning of the modifier, whereas referential ambiguity has no immediate effect, as it allows the activation of at least one semanticallycompatible referent.

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Section: Violations Of Gricean Maxims 28contrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Violations Of Gricean Maxims 41contrasting

confidence: 90%

Section: Violations Of Gricean Maximsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How do violations of Gricean maxims affect reading?

Fukumura

Gompel

2017

Journal of Memory and Language

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“…Engelhardt et al (2006) showed that speakers tend to produce overspecified descriptions, although they also tended to judge them more negatively than non-overspecified ones in an offline task (but see Davies & Katsos, 2013, for a criticism of the conclusions reached in this paper). More recently, erp studies by Engelhardt et al (2011) have suggested that overspecification may not be optimal for listeners. This is in line with a prediction that emerges from eye-tracking research on reference comprehension in the Visual World paradigm Eberhard, SpiveyKnowlton, Sedivy, & Tanenhaus, 1995;Sedivy, 2003).…”

Section: Conceptualisation: Determining the Content Of Referential Npsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Models and empirical data for the production of referring expressions

Gatt

Krahmer

Deemter

et al. 2014

Language, Cognition and Neuroscience

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This paper introduces a special issue of Language, Cognition and Neuroscience dedicated to Production of Referring Expressions: Models and Empirical Data, focusing on models of reference production that make empirically testable predictions, as well as on empirical work that can inform the design of such models. In addition to introducing the volume, this paper also gives an overview of recent experimental and modelling work, focusing on two principal aspects of reference production, namely, choice of anaphoric referential expression, and choice of semantic content for referential noun phrases. It also addresses the distinction between dialogue and non-dialogue settings, focussing especially on the impact of a dialogue setting on referential choice and the evidence for audience design in the choices speakers make.

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“…Whilst production of overinformativeness has been measured and analysed across many studies dating from the early 1980s, the impact of this pragmatic phenomenon is yet to be fully explored from the comprehender's perspective. Future research should use experimental methods which measure not only the behavioural but also the neuropsychological effects of processing these types of utterances (e.g., Engelhardt, Demiral & Ferreira, 2011).…”

Section:  Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

7. Reference and Informativeness as cognitive processes in verbal communication

Davies¹,

Katsos²

2016

Verbal Communication

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Overspecification in reference is the provision of more information than is minimally required for a hearer to identify an intended referent, e.g., 'the stripy bowl' in the context of a single bowl. Since this kind of referring expression is not predicted by traditional accounts of reference, this chapter reviews research documenting the frequency of such expressions in various contexts. Drawing together recent empirical findings, it proposes reasons for overspecified reference from both the speaker's and the addressee's perspective. The pragmatic, cognitive and social significance of overspecification is discussed, and applications of research in this area are considered. We close by suggesting promising future directions for this strand of research.

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Over-specified referring expressions impair comprehension: An ERP study

Cited by 68 publications

References 33 publications

How do violations of Gricean maxims affect reading?

How do violations of Gricean maxims affect reading?

Models and empirical data for the production of referring expressions

7. Reference and Informativeness as cognitive processes in verbal communication

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