Similarity-based competition in relative clause production and comprehension

Abstract

This work investigates the role of semantic similarity in sentence production and comprehension. Previous research suggests that animacy and conceptual similarity of the noun concepts within complex descriptive phrases modulate structural preferences in production, and processing cost in comprehension. For example, animate-head phrases such as the girl that the boy is pulling are rare in production and more difficult to understand in comprehension. In contrast, phrases with passive clauses such as the girl being pulled by the boy are commonly produced and more easily understood, as are inanimate-head structures such as the truck the boy is pulling. In three picture-based studies, we examined the mechanisms underlying semantic similarity effects in producing and comprehending these phrases. Study 1 investigated structural preferences in production, whereas Study 2 investigated processing cost in comprehension. Study 3 used eye-tracking to examine the time-course of production processes. The results showed that semantic similarity elicited competition during phrase planning, influenced the choice of syntactic structure in production, and engendered comprehension difficulty in animate-head active configurations.Structural preferences, fixation probabilities reflecting production planning processes and comprehension cost significantly correlated with measures of conceptual similarity across the three studies. We argue that similarity-based competition modulates sentence production and comprehension processes when verbs are planned or interpreted, i.e., when event-based semantic or syntactic roles are determined. In addition to task-specific processes, we suggest that a similar and shared semantic competition mechanism underlies both production and comprehension, a view consistent with existing evidence for common brain regions recruited in both tasks.3

Same, different, or closely related: What is the relationship between language production and comprehension?

“…The second paper focusing on a domain-general process, by Humphreys, Mirkovic, and Gennari (2016), concerns the mechanisms involved in resolving similarity-based semantic competition. The authors provide empirical evidence that semantic similarity elicits competition during planning, results in comprehension difficulty in certain syntactic configurations, and also influences the choice of syntactic structure in language production.…”

Relating phrase production and comprehension: animacy interactions with individual variability suggest similar lexically-driven conflict resolution processes

“…Complex referential phrases such as the teddy bear that the girl is hugging…. have been extensively studied under the rubric of object relative clauses (Gennari & MacDonald, 2008Humphreys et al, 2016;Mak et al, 2002;Traxler et al, 2002Traxler et al, , 2005. These subordinate clauses modify the first noun (e.g., teddy bear), which is also the syntactic object or patient of the RC verb.…”

“…Indeed, conflict is thought to occur in phrases containing animate nouns that must be mapped into a verb's semantic/syntactic roles. Animate-target phrases such as the man that the girl is hugging, for example, are more difficult to comprehended than inanimate-target phrases such as the teddy bear that the girl is hugging because man and girl are more conceptually and functionally similar than teddy bear and girl, e.g., they are equally good candidates for the verb's agent or patient roles (Gennari & MacDonald, 2008Humphreys, Mirković, & Gennari, 2016;Mak, Vonk, & Schriefers, 2002;Traxler, Morris, & Seely, 2002;Traxler, Williams, Blozis, & Morris, 2005). Thus, in animate-target phrases (e.g., the man that the girl is hugging), there is more conflict than inanimate-target phrases (e.g., the teddy bear that the girl is hugging) when establishing an interpretation (who is acting on whom).…”

Sentence Comprehension

“…This distribution in turn shapes comprehenders' linguistic experience, which affects comprehenders' interpretations of ambiguities and complex sentences such as relative clauses (Gennari & MacDonald, 2009;Y. Hsiao & MacDonald, 2016;Humphreys, Mirković, & Gennari, 2016;MacDonald & Thornton, 2009). On this view, if we want to understand comprehension processes via experience and patterns of sentence comprehension difficulty, then we must also address the nature of language production processes, where difficulty of production shapes distribution and ultimately difficulty of comprehension (see commentaries to MacDonald, 2013, for critiques and future directions).…”