Individual Differences in Online Sentence Processing and Offline Comprehension

 描述(申请人提供)：语言理解的科学研究沿着两条基本独立的研究路线进行：一方面是使用阅读过程中的眼球跟踪和事件相关电位(ERPs)等手段检查在线句子处理的实验，另一方面是探索读者对阅读内容的离线理解的实验。目前的项目旨在通过调查在线句子处理的行为和神经测量在多大程度上可以用来预测读者对所读内容的离线理解，来弥合这两个领域。该项目特别关注暂时性的结构歧义(花园小路上的句子；例如，当安娜给在婴儿床上玩耍的婴儿穿衣服时)，因为以前的工作表明，读者在对这些句子的在线处理和离线解释方面存在很大差异。此外，该项目考察了两个关键认知结构--工作记忆容量和印刷品暴露--的个体差异如何调节在线处理和离线理解之间的关系。该项目涉及三个具体目标：(1)什么是导致对暂时歧义句子的离线正确解释的在线阅读时间模式？(2)导致对暂时歧义句子的正确解释与错误解释的在线电生理信号是什么？(3)在线处理和离线解释之间的关系是如何由工作记忆容量和印刷暴露的个体差异所调节的？该项目在两个实验中解决了这三个具体目标，这两个实验使用眼球跟踪和事件相关电位来测量在线句子处理，以及使用理解问题来测量离线口译。此外，还将进行阅读广度和空间广度任务，以评估工作记忆能力，并将进行作者识别测试，以评估印刷接触。从这个项目中获得的知识将有助于心理语言学和语言认知神经科学领域的理论模型和方法进步。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The scientific study of language comprehension has proceeded along two largely independent lines of research: experiments that examine online sentence processing using measures such as eye-tracking during reading and event-related potentials (ERPs) on the one hand, and experiments that probe readers' offline interpretation of what was read on the other. The current project aims to bridge these two areas by investigating the extent to which behavioral and neural measures of online sentence processing can be used to predict readers' offline comprehension of what was read. The project focuses in particular on temporary structural ambiguities (garden-path sentences; e.g., While Anna dressed the baby played in the crib), as previous work has shown that readers differ considerably with respect to their online processing and offline interpretation of these types of sentences. Further, the projec examines how individual differences in two key cognitive constructs-working-memory capacity and print exposure-mediate the relationship between online processing and offline comprehension. The project addresses three specific aims: (1) What are the online reading-time patterns that give rise to correct versus incorrect offline interpretations of temporarily ambiguou sentences? (2) What are the online electrophysiological signatures that give rise to correct versus incorrect interpretations of temporarily ambiguous sentences? (3) How are the relationships between online processing and offline interpretation mediated by individual differences in working-memory capacity and print exposure? The project addresses these three specific aims in two experiments that employ eye-tracking and ERPs to measure online sentence processing, as well as comprehension questions to measure offline interpretation. In addition, reading-span and spatial-span tasks will be administered to assess working-memory capacity, and the Author Recognition Test will be administered to assess print exposure. The knowledge gained from this project will contribute to theoretical models and methodological advancement in the fields of psycholinguistics and the cognitive neuroscience of language.