Individual Differences in Lexical and Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution

描述(申请人提供)：在句子理解过程中经常遇到的两类歧义是词汇歧义和句法歧义。歧义的消除通常很容易实现，因为它得到了语言提示的帮助，例如出现的频率和/或相对于周围语境的解释的似是而非。这项研究将考察词汇和句法歧义中频率和似是而非线索的使用情况，作为工作记忆容量的函数。在高和低工作记忆组中，当似然线索保持不变时，频率线索将被操纵，反之亦然。个体解决歧义的能力将通过使用自定节奏的阅读范式将歧义句子与明确的控制句子进行比较来计算，此前的研究表明，阅读范式对歧义效应和工作记忆容量的差异很敏感。第一个目的是调查在解决这些歧义时是否使用了共同的认知机制。在20世纪90年代，词汇加工、句法加工和语言线索被提出利用单一的机制。这一想法与Fodor在20世纪80年代提出的模块化概念背道而驰。尽管对语言处理模型和理论有重大影响，但目前还没有发表任何关于是否使用单一机制来解决这些歧义的研究。第二个目标是确定在个体内部是否比似是而非线索更多地使用频率线索，因为似是而非线索可能更难处理。第三个目的是确定在句子处理中，频率和似然线索是否作为工作记忆的函数被不同地使用，因为工作记忆不足的个体可能在处理语言线索方面有更大的困难。本研究的结果将增加句子加工中正常歧义消解的科学知识，以及支持歧义消解的认知资源。先前的研究表明，句子理解中的歧义是通过语言线索来消除歧义的，并受到个人工作记忆容量的调节。本研究的目的是进一步探索词汇和句法歧义的消解机制与工作记忆容量相关的基础知识。本研究结果可用于开发更详细的正常语言加工模型，为语言障碍患者的康复提供更好的诊断工具和治疗方案，提高他们的生活质量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Two types of ambiguities commonly encountered during sentence comprehension are lexical and syntactic ambiguities. Disambiguation is typically achieved easily, as it is aided by language cues, such as the frequency of occurrence and/or the plausibility of interpretation with relation to the surrounding context. This research will investigate the use of frequency and plausibility cues within lexical and syntactic ambiguities, as a function of working memory capacity. Frequency cues will be manipulated while plausibility cues are held constant, and vice versa, in high and low working memory groups. An individual's ability to resolve ambiguities will be calculated by comparing ambiguous sentences to unambiguous control sentences using a self-paced reading paradigm, previously shown to be sensitive to ambiguity effects and differences in working memory capacity. The first aim is to investigate whether a common cognitive mechanism is utilized when resolving these ambiguities. In the 1990s, lexical processing, syntactic processing, and language cues were proposed to utilize a single mechanism. This idea countered the concept of modularity proposed by Fodor in the 1980s. No work has been published to test whether a single mechanism is used to resolve these ambiguities, despite significant implications for language processing models and theories. The second aim is to determine whether frequency cues are used to a greater extent than plausibility cues within an individual, as plausibility cues may be more difficult to process. The third aim is to determine whether frequency and plausibility cues are used differently in sentence processing as a function of working memory, as individuals with low working memory may have increased difficulty processing language cues. The results of this research will increase scientific knowledge of normal ambiguity resolution in sentence processing, and the cognitive resources that support ambiguity resolution. Previous research has suggested that ambiguities in sentence comprehension are disambiguated by language cues and mediated by an individual's working memory capacity. The goal of this research is to further the pursuit of fundamental knowledge regarding the mechanisms that support the disambiguation of lexical and syntactic ambiguities as a function of working memory capacity. The results of this research may be applied to the development of more detailed models of normal language processing, which may lead to better diagnostic tools and treatment programs for rehabilitating persons with disordered language and improving their quality of life.