Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Focus as a contextual priming mechanism in reading

R K Morris1, J R Folk

  • 1University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA. morris@garnet.cla.sc.edu

Memory & Cognition
|December 16, 1998
PubMed
Summary

Readers are sensitive to syntactic focus, which influences how they process subsequent words. Manipulating focus affects sentence context effects on word processing and reading behavior.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

"It's your body… so it's just nice to know what they're putting in it" A qualitative study of women's views and experiences of caesarean section, antibiotic use and infection.

BMC pregnancy and childbirth·2026
Same author

Pregnancies in women with Turner syndrome: a retrospective multicentre UK study.

BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology·2021
Same author

Is cerclage safe and effective in preventing preterm birth in women presenting early in pregnancy with cervical dilatation?

BMJ (Clinical research ed.)·2021
Same author

Comparison of visual and computerised antenatal cardiotocography in the prevention of perinatal morbidity and mortality. A systematic review and meta-analysis.

European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology·2021
Same author

COngenital heart disease and the Diagnostic yield with Exome sequencing (CODE) study: prospective cohort study and systematic review.

Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology : the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology·2020
Same author

Cause of intrauterine and neonatal death in twin pregnancies (CoDiT): development of a novel classification system.

BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology·2020

Area of Science:

  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Computational Linguistics

Background:

  • Syntactic focus plays a role in sentence comprehension.
  • Understanding how focus influences reading is crucial for psycholinguistic models.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate reader sensitivity to syntactic focus.
  • To determine if focus acts as a message-level contextual priming mechanism.
  • To examine the effects of focus on subsequent word processing and reading patterns.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted.
  • Experiment 1 measured target word naming latency.
  • Experiment 2 used eye-tracking during silent reading to record looking time and regressions.

Main Results:

  • Readers showed sensitivity to syntactic focus manipulations.
  • Focus significantly altered sentence context effects on target word processing.
  • Experiment 2 indicated fewer regressions and less total time on focused words, but no initial processing time effects on the focused word itself.

Conclusions:

  • Syntactic focus is an effective message-level contextual priming mechanism.
  • Focus influences reading behavior and the processing of subsequent words.
  • While focus impacts reading patterns, its direct effect on initial processing time of the focused word requires further investigation.

Related Experiment Videos