Talking in another person’s shoes: Incremental perspective-taking in language processing

Abstract

Language use in conversation is fundamentally incremental, and is guided by the representations that interlocutors maintain of each other’s knowledge and beliefs. While there is a consensus that interlocutors represent the perspective of others, three candidate models, a Perspective-Adjustment model, an Anticipation-Integration model, and a Constraint-Based model, make conflicting predictions about the role of perspective information during on-line language processing. Here we review psycholinguistic evidence for incrementality in language processing, and the recent methodological advance that has fostered its investigation—the use of eye-tracking in the visual world paradigm. We present visual world studies of perspective-taking, and evaluate each model's account of the data. We argue for a Constraint-Based view in which perspective is one of multiple probabilistic constraints that guide language processing decisions. Addressees combine knowledge of a speaker’s perspective with rich information from the discourse context to arrive at an interpretation of what was said. Understanding how these sources of information combine to influence interpretation requires careful consideration of how perspective representations were established, and how they are relevant to the communicative context.

Using perspective to resolve reference: The impact of cognitive load and motivation.

“…Ferguson & Breheny, 2012;Ferguson, Scheepers, & Sanford, 2010;Rubio-Fernández, 2013), or conflicting desires (Ferguson & Breheny, 2011). These studies, showing early use of perspective, suggest that interpretation of language is driven by multiple probabilistic constraints, one of which is perspective (Brown-Schmidt & Hanna, 2011).…”

An early influence of common ground during speech planning

“…These results support Constraint-Based Processing models. In this view, common and privileged ground act as probabilistic constraints to guide language processing in combination with other constraints such as context (Brown-Schmidt & Hanna, 2011). Given the lack of differences in planning durations and speakers' relative success at tailoring their referring expressions for their addressee, weighing the available shared and privileged information appears to be a relatively efficient process.…”

Influence of perspective and goals on reference production in conversation

“…According to the constraintbased-processing view, multiple sources of information, including contextual information and the perspective of the addressee, combine to constrain language comprehension and production processes (Hanna, Tanenhaus & Trueswell, 2003;Horton, 2007;Tanenhaus & Trueswell, 1995). This view predicts early and strong contributions of common ground to referential production in cases where this information is wellestablished and relevant (Brown-Schmidt & Hanna, 2011).…”