Relational Memory and Language Comprehension

关系记忆和语言理解

• 批准号: 0749941
• 负责人: Peter Gordon
• 金额: $ 26.19万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-05-01 至 2011-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0749941&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Relational; Memory; Language; Comprehension

This project investigates how the mind coordinates information in human memory with the presentation of novel information provided during language comprehension. The focus is on the dynamic construction of a mental representation of discourse through the interpretation of referential expressions, typically pronouns. The work investigates the manner in which this process is mediated by representational aspects of episodic and semantic memory, and will integrate knowledge about memory and language processing to explain how the ambiguity, frequency, and semantic content of noun phrases affect a critical aspect of language comprehension, namely the interpretation of expressions that refer to entities mentioned previously. The primary method used in the research is to measure the eye movements of adults as they read short passages; an additional method involves measurement of the time that it takes to answer questions about the passages. The research will provide answers to two fundamental questions which have been the subject of substantial debate in recent years: (1) What role, if any, can general principles of memory play in explaining language processing, and (2) in what ways, if any, is reference to entities that are central (or topical) in a discourse processed differently from reference to entities that are not central.

本项目研究大脑如何协调人类记忆中的信息与语言理解过程中提供的新信息的呈现。 重点是通过对指称表达（通常是代词）的解释来动态构建话语的心理表征。 这项工作调查的方式，这一过程是介导的表征方面的情节和语义记忆，并将整合知识的记忆和语言处理解释如何歧义，频率和语义内容的名词短语影响语言理解的一个关键方面，即解释的表达，指的是前面提到的实体。 研究中使用的主要方法是测量成年人阅读短文时的眼动;另一种方法是测量回答有关短文的问题所需的时间。 这项研究将回答两个基本问题，这两个问题近年来一直是大量辩论的主题：（1）记忆的一般原则在解释语言处理过程中可以发挥什么作用，如果有的话，（2）在什么样的方式，如果有的话，是指在话语中的中心（或主题）实体处理不同于指不是中心的实体。