Persistence of Initial Misanalysis With No Referential Ambiguity
Chie Nakamura1,2,3, Manabu Arai1
1Department of Language and Information Sciences, The University of Tokyo.
Cognitive Science
|July 21, 2015
Summary
Comprehenders often stick to initial incorrect sentence interpretations, even when new information corrects them. This persistence stems from difficulty revising strongly supported initial analyses, not from pragmatic inference.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Science
- Linguistics
Background:
- Previous studies suggested initial misanalyses of ambiguous sentences persist due to pragmatic inference.
- A criticism was that referential ambiguity allowed for such inferences, masking reanalysis difficulties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the persistence of initial analyses in structurally ambiguous sentences.
- To determine if this phenomenon is due to pragmatic inference or reanalysis difficulty.
Main Methods:
- Utilized self-paced reading and eye-tracking techniques.
- Tested locally ambiguous relative clause sentences in Japanese where initial and correct interpretations conflict.
Main Results:
- Evidence found for the persistence of initial analyses in Japanese relative clauses.
- Eye-tracking data indicated that stronger initial analysis support led to greater preservation after falsification.
Conclusions:
- The persistence of initial sentence analyses is not driven by referential ambiguity.
- Difficulty in fully revising a highly supported initial interpretation underlies this phenomenon.
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