Privileged versus shared knowledge about object identity in real-time referential processing

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Psycholinguistics
• Computational Linguistics

Background:

• Listeners typically use shared knowledge to interpret utterances.
• Previous research suggests rapid integration of speaker awareness.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate listener integration of speaker perspective when private knowledge conflicts with shared knowledge.
• Examine how listeners process referential ambiguity based on differing object identities.

Main Methods:

• Eye-tracking measures to monitor real-time referential processing.
• Experimental manipulation of shared versus private knowledge about object identity.
• Analysis of listener's ability to integrate speaker's perspective.

Main Results:

• Listeners rapidly integrate a speaker's awareness of an object's existence.
• Listeners strongly consider their own private knowledge of object identity, even when it conflicts with the speaker's.
• This effect persists even when discourse highlights the discrepancy in knowledge.

Conclusions:

• Listeners do not always prioritize shared knowledge over private knowledge in real-time conversation.
• Distinct types of perspective-based cues are integrated differently during communication.
• Private knowledge plays a significant role in referential processing, challenging some existing models.