Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2026
05:22
Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies
Published on: May 9, 2019
The positive side of a negative reference: the delay between linguistic processing and common ground.
Edmundo Kronmüller1, Ira Noveck2, Natalia Rivera3
1Escuela de Psicología , Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , Santiago, Chile.
Royal Society Open Science
|April 8, 2017
Summary
Listeners initially process language, not social context, when understanding object references. Common ground understanding emerges later, suggesting linguistic processing is temporally distinct from social cognition in referential communication.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Psycholinguistics
- Experimental Psychology
Background:
- Establishing shared understanding of object names (referential precedents) is crucial for communication.
- Debate exists on whether listeners track speaker identity (common ground) or treat names as linguistic units.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the temporal interplay between linguistic processing and common ground in referential communication.
- To test predictions from the common ground view versus the linguistic view of referential precedents.
Main Methods:
- Utilized visual-world eyetracking for real-time observation during a referential communication task.
- Participants identified objects based on spoken instructions from two speakers, including negative references (e.g., 'not the jellyfish').
Main Results:
- Initial object interpretations relied solely on linguistic processing.
- Common ground considerations emerged significantly later, after 1000 milliseconds.
- Negative referential cues were processed linguistically before social context influenced interpretation.
Conclusions:
- Linguistic processing of referential precedents is temporally separable from common ground considerations.
- Findings support a model where language is processed first, followed by social context integration.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
03:26Framing Effects
Information is everywhere and its presentation—such as how and when items are presented—can impact our perceptions and decisions surrounding the info. This broad concept umbrellas framing effects—influences that occur due to the way information is framed in its appearance, whether it’s purely the order or the specific wording of a message. Let’s take a look at numerous ways in which two versions of something can objectively say the same thing, yet we respond in different ways based on the...
01:18Negative and Positive Feedback
Animal organs and organ systems constantly adjust to internal and external changes through a process called homeostasis ("steady state"). Examples of these changes include regulation of the level of glucose or calcium in the blood or internal responses to external temperatures. Homeostasis requires maintaining an internal dynamic equilibrium:
01:10Interference: Path Lengths
Consider two sources of sound, that may or may not be in phase, emitting waves at a single frequency, and consider the frequencies to be the same.
Two special sources may be considered when they are in phase. This can be easily achieved by feeding the two sources from the same source. An example would be synchronizing the two speakers by feeding them with the same source, such as the sound waves produced by a tuning fork. This setup ensures that the two sources have the same frequency and are...
Two special sources may be considered when they are in phase. This can be easily achieved by feeding the two sources from the same source. An example would be synchronizing the two speakers by feeding them with the same source, such as the sound waves produced by a tuning fork. This setup ensures that the two sources have the same frequency and are...
01:27Language and Cognition
Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
01:16Interference and Decay
Forgetting is a complex cognitive phenomenon influenced by several factors, among which interference and decay are particularly prominent. These processes explain why individuals often struggle to retrieve specific information from memory, leading to lapses in recall that can be observed in everyday situations.
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
01:28Automatic Processing and Automatic Social Behavior
Automatic processing refers to the cognitive operations that occur without conscious intent or awareness, playing a fundamental role in shaping social cognition and behavior. These processes enable individuals to navigate complex social environments efficiently by relying on mental shortcuts and pre-existing knowledge structures known as schemas. One of the most influential mechanisms underlying automatic processing is priming, which subtly activates mental representations through exposure to...