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In psychology, concepts can be divided into two categories: natural and artificial. Natural concepts are formed through direct or indirect experiences. For example, consider the concept of snow. If you live in a place with regular snowfall, such as Essex Junction, Vermont, you know snow through direct experiences. You’ve seen it fall, touched it, shoveled it, and played in it. You recognize its texture, appearance, and even its smell. In contrast, if you live on an island like Saint...
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Comprehending Conceptual Anaphors.

Morton Ann Gernsbacher1

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A.

Language and Cognitive Processes
|November 27, 2014
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Pronouns sometimes break number agreement rules, especially with multiple items, generic types, or group members. This "illegal" pronoun use can actually improve sentence naturalness and comprehension.

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Area of Science:

  • Linguistics
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • English grammar requires pronoun-antecedent number agreement.
  • Deviations from this rule occur in specific contexts, challenging standard grammatical constraints.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify and analyze situations where pronouns violate number agreement.
  • To investigate the impact of such violations on sentence naturalness and comprehension speed.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Assessed sentence naturalness ratings for sentences with legal vs. illegal pronouns.
  • Experiment 2: Measured reading times to gauge comprehension speed for sentences with legal vs. illegal pronouns.

Main Results:

  • Sentences with plural pronouns referring to multiple items, generic types, or collective sets were rated more natural and comprehended faster.
  • Conversely, sentences with singular pronouns referring to unique items, specific tokens, or individual members were also rated more natural and comprehended faster.

Conclusions:

  • Pragmatic information, potentially through mental models, influences the online interpretation of pronouns.
  • Grammatical 'violations' can enhance processing when they align with contextual or pragmatic cues.