Syntactic priming during sentence comprehension: Evidence for the lexical boost.

Abstract

Syntactic priming occurs when structural information from one sentence influences processing of a subsequently encountered sentence (Bock, 1986; Ledoux et al., 2007). This article reports two eye-tracking experiments investigating the effects of a prime sentence on the processing of a target sentence that shared aspects of syntactic form. The experiments were designed to determine the degree to which lexical overlap between prime and target sentences produced larger effects, comparable to the widely observed ‘lexical boost’ in production experiments (Pickering & Branigan, 1998; Pickering & Ferreira, 2008). The current experiments showed that priming effects during on-line comprehension were in fact larger when a verb was repeated across the prime and target sentences (see also Tooley et al., 2009). The finding of larger priming effects with lexical repetition supports accounts under which syntactic form representations are connected to individual lexical items (e.g., Vosse & Kempen, 2000, 2009; Tomasello, 2003).

Priming of early closure: evidence for the lexical boost during sentence comprehension

“…Because the type of target sentence was not predictable based on the type of prime sentence that appeared on a given trial, participants should not have been able to develop a strategy that relied on them predicting the imminent arrival of a particular kind of target sentence. As noted above, previous studies have demonstrated that semantic repetition, by itself, does not lead to facilitated processing of syntactically challenging parts of target sentences (Carminati et al, 2008; Tooley et al, 2009; Traxler & Tooley, 2008; Traxler et al, in press). The current experiments provide a further test of the semantic facilitation hypothesis.…”

“…These studies indicate that semantic repetition, by itself, is not sufficient for facilitated processing of syntactically challenging portions of sentences (Tooley et al, 2009). iii They indicate also that participant strategies are likewise not sufficient to facilitate processing of syntactically challenging portions of sentences (Traxler & Tooley, 2008; Traxler et al, in press). …”

“…To date, syntactic priming effects have been demonstrated for sentences containing reduced relatives (e.g., The defendant examined by the lawyer was guilty ), double-object and prepositional-object datives (e.g., The pirate gave the princess the necklace; The pirate gave the necklace to the princess), “high-low” attachment ambiguities (e.g., The lumberjack chopped down the oak with the mushroom), and modifier-goal ambiguities (e.g., The girl dropped the blanket on the floor on the bed this morning) (Traxler et al, in press; Carminati et al, 2008; Thothathiri & Snedeker, 2008a, b; Boudewyn et al, in press; Traxler, 2008a). Some, but not all of these studies, also indicate that the lexical boost occurs in comprehension priming, as priming effects are sometimes larger when critical verbs are repeated across primes and targets.…”

“…Some, but not all of these studies, also indicate that the lexical boost occurs in comprehension priming, as priming effects are sometimes larger when critical verbs are repeated across primes and targets. For example, Tooley and colleagues (2009) reported that both eye-tracking and ERP effects were larger when the initial verb in a reduced relative appeared in both a prime and a target sentence than when it did not (see also Traxler et al, in press). By contrast, the lexical boost has not been shown for modifier-goal ambiguities (Traxler, 2008a).…”

“…Each target sentence was preceded by a prime that was either structurally identical or that required a different syntactic analysis. In Experiment 1, all of the prime sentences shared the same critical verb as the target (Arai et al, 2007; Carminati et al, 2008; Tooley et al, 2009, in press; Traxler et al, in press; Weber & Indefrey, 2009). In Experiment 2, verb repetition was eliminated by reorganizing the stimuli from Experiment 1.…”