The Experiential-Simulation View of Comprehension: How is Sentence Meaning composed? (B04)

• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2009 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 75650358

We focus on the ‘experiential simulations view of comprehension’. Our previous research showed that non-linguistic memory traces reflecting the comprehender’s experiences are automatically activated during word processing, and that comprehenders build simulations beyond the word level. No definite evidence was found for the assumption that simulations are functionally relevant for comprehension. In Phase III, we will continue investigating simulation processes at the sentence level, focusing par-ticularly on the question regarding incrementality. We will also investigate the functional relevance of simulations for the processing of expressions requiring substantial composition processes, as well as for children’s language processing.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 833: Emergence of Meaning: The Dynamics and Adaptivity of Linguistic Structures
• Applicant Institution: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Barbara Kaup; Professor Dr. Hartmut Leuthold