Language and Memory in the Processing of Reference

本研究将探讨语言理解中常用的探测词任务所涉及的认知过程，重点关注叙事语篇阅读过程中指称表达的理解过程。这样做是为了确定在何种程度上，探测任务所测量的记忆过程是那些通常涉及语言理解和在何种程度上，他们来自战略任务适应。该项目旨在获得的机制，其中所指的表达的解释和共指的表达模式有助于话语中的句子的意义和连贯性的理解。实证工作将使用探测词识别任务。这些任务包括向受试者呈现一个探测词，并要求他们做出快速反应，表明这个词是否出现在他们正在阅读（或听到）的文章中。任务的使用是基于这样的假设，即对探测词的反应时间反映了作为语言理解的一部分而构建的记忆表征中话语所指的可及性。本研究旨在通过共指研究来验证这一假设的有效性。探测词识别任务将使用快速串行视觉呈现（RSVP），其中句子或段落呈现在计算机屏幕的中心 探测词任务的探索将集中在两个主要问题上：如何减少表达（特别是代词）和完整的指称表达（特别是专有名词）的共指解释的机制不同，以及以共指方式解释这两种形式的表达的相对容易程度如何？探测词识别实验将研究结果表明，重复的名称共指增加记忆可及性的程度可能是由于策略适应的探测词识别任务比代词共指。 在语篇模型中，语言的顺序结构和句法结构如何影响心理表征？这种心理表征又如何影响语言输入中指称表达的解释？ 探测词识别实验将检查在何种程度上的证据的重要性顺序组织（特别是第一次提到）的记忆可访问性是由于战略任务的适应。

This project will examine the cognitive processes that are engaged by the probe-word tasks that have commonly been used to study language comprehension, focusing on the processes involved in the comprehension of referring expressions during the reading of narrative texts. It will do so in order to determine the extent to which the memory processes measured by probe tasks are those that are usually involved in language comprehension and the extent to which they arise from strategic task adaptations. The project seeks to gain an understanding of the mechanisms by which referential expressions are interpreted and by which patterns of coreferential expressions contribute to the meaning and coherence of sentences within a discourse Empirical work will use probe word recognition tasks. These tasks involve presenting subjects with a probe word and asking them to make a speeded response indicating whether or not that word has occurred in the passage that they are reading (or hearing). Use of the task is based on the assumption that response times to the probe word reflect the accessibility of discourse referents in the memory representations that are being constructed as part of language comprehension. The research using the task aims to test the validity of that assumption in specific types of studies on coreference. The probe word recognition tasks will use rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) with the sentence or passage being presented at the center of a computer screen The exploration of the probe word task will focus on two major issues: How do the mechanisms for coreferential interpretation of reduced expressions (specifically pronouns) and complete referring expressions (specifically proper names) differ and what is the relative ease of interpreting these two forms of expressions in a coreferential manner? Probe word recognition experiments will examine the extent to which results showing that repeated name coreference increases memory accessibility more than pronominal coreference may be due to strategic adaptations to the probe word recognition task. How do the sequential and syntactic structure of language influence mental representation in a model of discourse and how does this mental representation influence the interpretation of referring expressions in linguistic input? Probe-word recognition experiments will examine the extent to which evidence on the importance of sequential organization (particularly first mention) on memory accessibility are due to strategic task adaptations.