Working Memory in the Processing of Long-Distance Dependencies: Interference and Filler Maintenance

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Computational Linguistics

Background:

• Long-distance dependencies pose challenges for working memory.
• Two proposed strategies for handling filler-gap dependencies are the "maintenance account" and the "retrieval account".

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether filler content is actively maintained in working memory during dependency processing.
• To differentiate between the "maintenance account" and the "retrieval account".

Main Methods:

• A self-paced reading paradigm was employed.
• Reading times for noun phrases (NPs) were compared between object relative clauses (filler-gap) and ellipsis sentences (antecedent-ellipsis).
• Similarity-based interference was manipulated to assess the impact of holding unresolved dependencies.

Main Results:

• Significantly increased reading times due to interference were observed in the object relative clause condition.
• No significant increase in reading times due to interference was found in the ellipsis sentence condition.
• These findings demonstrate filler maintenance costs.

Conclusions:

• The results support the "maintenance account," indicating that filler phrases are actively maintained in working memory.
• The observed costs suggest that maintained filler representations include shared features with interfering elements.
• This active maintenance is specific to dependencies where a filler is posited prior to the gap site.