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Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
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Prior Beliefs Modulate Projection.

Judith Degen1, Judith Tonhauser2

  • 1Department of Linguistics, Stanford University.

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Summary
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Keywords:
experimental pragmaticsexperimental semanticsprojection

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Subjective beliefs influence how people process and interpret language.
  • Understanding speaker commitment (projection) is crucial for effective communication.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how prior beliefs about the world affect listeners' inferences of speaker commitment.
  • To examine the relationship between subjective probability and projection in language understanding.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis.
  • Participants' prior beliefs about the probability of utterance content were assessed.
  • Listeners' inferences about speaker commitment (projection) were measured.

Main Results:

  • Prior beliefs significantly predicted projection at both group and individual levels.
  • Higher prior beliefs in the content of an utterance led to greater inferred speaker commitment.
  • This demonstrates a direct link between subjective world knowledge and interpretation of speaker commitment.

Conclusions:

  • Subjective prior beliefs play a critical role in modulating listeners' inferences about speaker commitment.
  • Findings support integrating cognitive theories of language understanding with formal analyses of projection.
  • This research highlights the cognitive underpinnings of how beliefs shape language interpretation.