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Navigating the Garden Path: Evidence for Restructuring as a Shared Process
Sarah K C Dygert1, Andrew F Jarosz1
1Department of Psychology, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA.
Journal of Intelligence
|July 27, 2026
Summary
This study reveals a shared cognitive process for resolving misrepresentations in complex tasks. Successful comprehension of garden path sentences predicts creative problem-solving abilities.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Misrepresentations of information are common in ambiguous situations, affecting problem-solving and language comprehension.
- Understanding how cognitive processes resolve these misrepresentations is crucial for complex task performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate a shared cognitive process underlying the restructuring of representations during complex tasks.
- To determine if successful garden path sentence comprehension predicts creative problem-solving success.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted with university students.
- Experiment I examined correlations between creative problem-solving and garden path sentence resolution.
- Experiment II assessed the predictive power of garden path sentence comprehension on creative problem-solving, controlling for working memory and fluid intelligence.
Main Results:
- Successful creative problem-solving correlated with successful garden path sentence resolution.
- Garden path sentence comprehension predicted creative problem-solving, independent of working memory and fluid intelligence.
- This relationship was specific to creative problem-solving, not analytic problem-solving.
Conclusions:
- Evidence suggests a shared cognitive process facilitates the revision of misrepresented information across different contexts.
- This cognitive process aids individuals in reconciling task goals with their world representations.
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