Word predictability effects are linear, not logarithmic: Implications for probabilistic models of sentence comprehension
Word predictability effects are linear, not logarithmic: Implications for probabilistic models of sentence comprehension
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jml.2020.104174
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发表时间：
2021-02-01
影响因子：
4.3
通讯作者：
Kuperberg, Gina R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brothers, Trevor;Kuperberg, Gina R.
在语言理解过程中，我们通常使用从先前上下文中使用信息来帮助识别单个单词的含义。尽管在线处理难度（例如阅读时间）的衡量标准受到上下文可预测性的强烈影响，但这种词汇可预测性效应的机制存在分歧，不同的模型可以预测不同的链接功能 - 线性（Reichle，Rayner和Pollatsek，＆Pollatsek，2003））或对数（Levy，2008）。为了帮助解决这一辩论，我们进行了两个强大的实验（自定进定的读数，n = 216;跨模式图片命名，n = 36），在阅读研究时对先前眼神跟踪的荟萃分析（总N = 218）。我们观察到在所有三项研究中，词汇可预测性与文字处理时间之间存在牢固的线性关系。除了它们的方法论上的含义之外，这些发现还对语言理解的预测处理模型施加了重要的限制。特别是，这些结果直接与惊奇理论的经验预测相矛盾，同时支持对理解中词汇预测效应的比例前活化描述。
During language comprehension, we routinely use information from the prior context to help identify the meaning of individual words. While measures of online processing difficulty, such as reading times, are strongly influenced by contextual predictability, there is disagreement about the mechanisms underlying this lexical predictability effect, with different models predicting different linking functions - linear (Reichle, Rayner, & Pollatsek, 2003) or logarithmic (Levy, 2008). To help resolve this debate, we conducted two highly-powered experiments (self-paced reading, N = 216; cross-modal picture naming, N = 36), and a meta-analysis of prior eye-tracking while reading studies (total N = 218). We observed a robust linear relationship between lexical predictability and word processing times across all three studies. Beyond their methodological implications, these findings also place important constraints on predictive processing models of language comprehension. In particular, these results directly contradict the empirical predictions of surprisal theory, while supporting a proportional pre-activation account of lexical prediction effects in comprehension.