Individual Differences in Online Sentence Processing and Offline Comprehension

University Of California At Davis, Davis CA

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Abstract

? 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.