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Related Experiment Videos

Eponymous verb phrases and ambiguity resolution.

D N Rapp1, R J Gerrig

  • 1Department of Psychology, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794-2500, USA. drapp@psych1.psy.sunysb.edu

Memory & Cognition
|September 10, 1999
PubMed
Summary
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Understanding phrases like "do a John Travolta" requires creating new meanings, not just selecting them. Memory retrieval for these unique phrases parallels how we handle regular word ambiguities.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Lexical Semantics

Background:

  • Eponymous verb phrases (e.g., "do a John Travolta") present unique comprehension challenges.
  • Understanding these phrases involves novel sense creation, distinct from simple sense selection from a mental lexicon.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether memory retrieval processes for eponymous verb phrases mirror those for ordinary lexical ambiguities.
  • To test the hypothesis that creating new senses relies on memory retrieval similar to resolving ambiguous words.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted to examine the comprehension of eponymous verb phrases.
  • Experiment 1 used paraphrase judgment times to assess the accessibility of dominant vs. subordinate interpretations in biased contexts.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Experiment 2 introduced a delay to observe the effect on the accessibility of phrase meanings.

    • Main Results:

    • Dominant interpretations of eponymous verb phrases remained accessible even when context biased towards subordinate meanings (Experiment 1).
    • This privilege of dominant meanings diminished with a delay before judgment (Experiment 2).

    Conclusions:

    • The findings suggest that understanding eponymous verb phrases involves active memory retrieval and sense creation.
    • These processes share similarities with, yet may also differ from, mechanisms underlying the resolution of lexical ambiguity.