TY - JOUR
T1 - Comprehension of linguistic dependencies
T2 - Speed-accuracy tradeoff evidence for direct-access retrieval from memory
AU - Foraker, Stephani
AU - McElree, Brian
PY - 2011/11
Y1 - 2011/11
N2 - Comprehenders can rapidly and efficiently interpret expressions with various types of non-adjacent dependencies. In the sentence The boy that the teacher warned fell, boy is readily interpreted as the subject of the verb fall despite the fact that a relative clause, that the teacher warned, intervenes between the two dependent elements. We review research investigating three memory operations proposed for resolving this and other types of non-adjacent dependencies: serial search retrieval, in which the dependent constituent is recovered by a search process through representations in memory, direct-access retrieval in which the dependent constituent is recovered directly by retrieval cue operations without search, and active maintenance of the dependent constituent in focal attention. Studies using speed-accuracy tradeoff methodology to examine the full timecourse of interpreting a wide range of non-adjacent dependencies indicate that comprehenders retrieve dependent constituents with a direct-access operation, consistent with the claim that representations formed during comprehension are accessed with a cue-driven, content-addressable retrieval process. The observed timecourse profiles are inconsistent with a broad class of models based on several search operations for retrieval. The profiles are also inconsistent with active maintenance of a constituent while concurrently processing subsequent material, and suggest that, with few exceptions, direct-access retrieval is required to process non-adjacent dependencies.
AB - Comprehenders can rapidly and efficiently interpret expressions with various types of non-adjacent dependencies. In the sentence The boy that the teacher warned fell, boy is readily interpreted as the subject of the verb fall despite the fact that a relative clause, that the teacher warned, intervenes between the two dependent elements. We review research investigating three memory operations proposed for resolving this and other types of non-adjacent dependencies: serial search retrieval, in which the dependent constituent is recovered by a search process through representations in memory, direct-access retrieval in which the dependent constituent is recovered directly by retrieval cue operations without search, and active maintenance of the dependent constituent in focal attention. Studies using speed-accuracy tradeoff methodology to examine the full timecourse of interpreting a wide range of non-adjacent dependencies indicate that comprehenders retrieve dependent constituents with a direct-access operation, consistent with the claim that representations formed during comprehension are accessed with a cue-driven, content-addressable retrieval process. The observed timecourse profiles are inconsistent with a broad class of models based on several search operations for retrieval. The profiles are also inconsistent with active maintenance of a constituent while concurrently processing subsequent material, and suggest that, with few exceptions, direct-access retrieval is required to process non-adjacent dependencies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80155194925&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80155194925&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1749-818X.2011.00313.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1749-818X.2011.00313.x
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:80155194925
SN - 1749-818X
VL - 5
SP - 764
EP - 783
JO - Linguistics and Language Compass
JF - Linguistics and Language Compass
IS - 11
ER -