The Independence of Syntactic Processing Advanced Psycholinguistics Presenter: Dong-Bo Hsu 02/09/06

To Verify the Modular View What is the module? What is the module? The subcomponents of the linguistic functions The subcomponents of the linguistic functions Modular Approach to Syntactic Processing Modular Approach to Syntactic Processing Autonomous/Independent Processing Autonomous/Independent Processing Information Encapsulation Information Encapsulation No semantic/thematic or pragmatic information can penetrate the initial processing No semantic/thematic or pragmatic information can penetrate the initial processing

Modular Representation in Syntactic Processing Minimal attachment (MA) dominates Minimal attachment (MA) dominates the initial the initial representation representation of syntactic of syntactic processing processing

The implications of MA approach in syntactic processing 1. Reduce the memory load and efficient in processing 1. Reduce the memory load and efficient in processing 2. Result in the garden path 2. Result in the garden path 3. MA strategy, not influenced by non- syntactic information 3. MA strategy, not influenced by non- syntactic information

How to Support A Modular View Experimentally The Reasoning and Goal of the Design The Reasoning and Goal of the Design 1. To demonstrate that no thematic/semantic information----initial syntactic processing 1. To demonstrate that no thematic/semantic information----initial syntactic processing 2. Pragmatic or contextual information cannot bias the initial syntactic processing 2. Pragmatic or contextual information cannot bias the initial syntactic processing 3. At most, contextual influence comes in in a later stage, not initial 3. At most, contextual influence comes in in a later stage, not initial

Experiment I: the influence of thematic information 1a. The defendant / examined / by the lawyer/ 1a. The defendant / examined / by the lawyer/ c-2 c-1 c (disambiguate) c-2 c-1 c (disambiguate) turned out / to be unreliable. turned out / to be unreliable. c+2 (animate, reduced) c+2 (animate, reduced) 1b. The evidence / examined / by the lawyer / 1b. The evidence / examined / by the lawyer / turned out to be unreliable. turned out to be unreliable.

The Prediction The modular view The modular view 1. Syntactic processing- initially construct MA analysis 1. Syntactic processing- initially construct MA analysis 2.Thematic information has no influence 2.Thematic information has no influence 3. No processing difference in reading regions c and c+1 3. No processing difference in reading regions c and c+1 4. (possible) c-1 take longer to read, 4. (possible) c-1 take longer to read, subjects detect the anomalous nature, the evidence subjects detect the anomalous nature, the evidence

The interactive view The interactive view 1. Thematic information can aid syntactic processing, especially in the initial stage 1. Thematic information can aid syntactic processing, especially in the initial stage 2. c and c+1 will be read faster because of the aid of thematic information 2. c and c+1 will be read faster because of the aid of thematic information

The Apparatus and Materials Apparatus: Dual Purkinjie Eyetracker interfaced with a Hewlett-Packard 2100 computer Apparatus: Dual Purkinjie Eyetracker interfaced with a Hewlett-Packard 2100 computer 16 sentences with fillers and intermixed with 40 texts + true/false questions 16 sentences with fillers and intermixed with 40 texts + true/false questions

The Measurement and Scoring Regions First pass reading time: first left to right fixation on the character + right-to-left movement within the character First pass reading time: first left to right fixation on the character + right-to-left movement within the character Second pass reading time: regressions and rereading of the sentences Second pass reading time: regressions and rereading of the sentences Latin square design Latin square design Significance level.05 Significance level.05

The Result

Discussion I Reduced relative clause > unreduced counterpart Reduced relative clause > unreduced counterpart Animate reduced = inanimate reduced Animate reduced = inanimate reduced Inanimate reduced: longer in c-1 than that in animate counterpart Inanimate reduced: longer in c-1 than that in animate counterpart Reflect MA strategy in spite of thematic information Reflect MA strategy in spite of thematic information In support of modular syntactic processing In support of modular syntactic processing

Experiment II-Contextual Information 2a. The editor played the tape / and agreed the story was big. (Minimal Attachment) 2a. The editor played the tape / and agreed the story was big. (Minimal Attachment) 2b. The editor played the tape / agreed the story was big. (Nonminimal Attachment) 2b. The editor played the tape / agreed the story was big. (Nonminimal Attachment) 3a. Sam loaded the boxes on the cart / before his coffee break. (Minimal Attachment) 3a. Sam loaded the boxes on the cart / before his coffee break. (Minimal Attachment) 3b. Sam loaded the boxes on the cart / onto the van (Nonminimal Attachment) 3b. Sam loaded the boxes on the cart / onto the van (Nonminimal Attachment)

The Material

The Prediction The modular view The modular view Initially syntactic processing — MA strategy Initially syntactic processing — MA strategy NMA-NMA = N-NMA > MA-MA = N-MA NMA-NMA = N-NMA > MA-MA = N-MA The interactive view The interactive view Contextual information aids syntactic processing Contextual information aids syntactic processing NMA-NMA < N-NMA; MA-MA < N-MA NMA-NMA < N-NMA; MA-MA < N-MA N-NMA > N-MA N-NMA > N-MA

Design and Materials

First pass reading time per character

Second pass reading time per character

Percentage Correct

Result for Exp III — a replication of Exp II Self-paced Reading Paradigm

Alternative Explanation 1. Prof. Garnsey ’ s paper 1. Prof. Garnsey ’ s paper 2. The individual difference on working memory (Just & Carpenter) 2. The individual difference on working memory (Just & Carpenter)