Temporary ambiguity and memory for the context of spoken language

Spoken language is interpreted incrementally, with listeners considering multiple candidate meanings as words unfold over time. Due to incremental interpretation, when a speaker refers to something in the world, there is often temporary ambiguity regarding which of several candidate items in the referential context the speaker is referring to. Subsequent tests of recognition memory show that listeners have good memory for referenced items, but that listeners also sometimes recognize non-referenced items from the referential context that share features with items that were mentioned. Predicted or inferred (but not experienced) interpretations of what was said are also sometimes retained in memory. While these findings indicate that multiple items from the referential context may be encoded in memory, the mechanisms supporting memory for the context of language use remain poorly understood. This paper tests the hypothesis that a consequence of temporary ambiguity in spoken language is enhanced memory for the items in the referential context. Two experiments demonstrate that periods of temporary referential ambiguity boost memory for non-referenced items in the referential context. Items that temporarily matched the unfolding referring expression were better remembered than those that did not. The longer the period of ambiguity, the stronger the memory boost, particularly for items activated early in the expression. In sum, the fact that spoken language unfolds over time creates momentary ambiguity about the speaker's intention; this ambiguity, in turn, allows the listener to later remember not only what the speaker did say, but also what they could have, but did not.