Macroplanning in language production: Revisiting the network description task

In this experiment, we examined pressures that influence linearization decisions when speakers plan and produce spoken descriptions that extend across multiple utterances. More specifically, we aimed to investigate macroplanning in discourse-level production using data from both speech and eye movements. Participants were shown 48 networks that contained two separate branches varying in length (number of nodes) and complexity (number of choice points). Each participant described 24 experimental networks and 24 filler networks while their eye movements and speech were recorded. We found that the location of prespeech fixations did not predict the first described branch. We also found that once speakers began to speak, they described the networks highly incrementally. These results are consistent with extensive planning prior to initiation of a complex description, as well as being indicative of a highly incremental production strategy following the onset of the description. Lastly, we report that speakers prioritize the shorter side of the network, regardless of branch complexity, which may suggest that speakers evaluate perceptual features and prioritize the side that appears to be easier to describe based simply on its length. Overall, our results are consistent with speakers using an apprehension phase to develop a macroplan for multi-utterance descriptions, a plan that is based on perceptual features. These findings offer support for incrementalism in language production, extending this principle to discourse-level production.