Similarity-based interference in temporarily ambiguous sentences

• Applicant: Dr. Hiroki Fujita, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 500540359

In sentence processing research, two issues have played a significant role. One is how readers interpret sentences that can be interpreted in more than one way (temporarily ambiguous sentences). The other issue is whether working memory operations such as memory encoding and retrieval relate to language comprehension. The latter line of research has demonstrated that a cue-based memory retrieval mechanism plays a role in the formation of linguistic dependencies. According to the cue-based memory retrieval account, readers complete linguistic dependencies by searching for an item that best matches retrieval cues. Although reanalysis and cue-based memory retrieval have been extensively investigated, the interaction between these two has been neglected. In the present project, we investigate the possibility that reanalysis influences cue-based memory retrieval. Understanding the reanalysis-retrieval relationship has the potential to reveal new insights into the mechanisms underlying these processes. The project involves nine empirical reading experiments, a Bayesian meta-analysis, and computational modelling.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants