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Fleva, E.1, Fotiadou, G.1, Katsiperi, M.1, Peristeri, E.1, Mastropavlou, M.2 & Tsimpli, I. M.1, 3
1Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Language Development Lab
2University of Ioannina (Greece) 3University of Reading (UK), School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences
Print exposure and memory effects on pronominal resolution
EXCELLENCE I IDAR Project
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
• to examine the vulnerability of anaphora resolution in adult monolingual native speakers as a function of individual differences in:
• Memory abilities
(working memory and episodic memory)
• Language experience
(print exposure and education)
• Age
Aims
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Anaphora Resolution
• Anaphora resolution (AR) is a linguistic phenomenon which describes the process of identifying the referent of anaphoric expressions into the context.
• AR is computed in syntax and at the interface with discourse (Tsimpli, et al. 2004; White 2008 a.o.).
• Recent research identified both linguistic and cognitive factors conditioning AR (Hendriks et al., 2014;
van Rij et al., 2013).
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Overt vs. Null pronoun resolution
• Greek is a Null Subject Language (NSL)
• Ambiguity in antecedent preference:
(1) O Kostasi xheretise ton Giannik otan proi /aftosk ton plisiase.
the Kostas waved at the John when pro / he him approached
(Papadopoulou et al. in press; but Tsimpli et al. 2004)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Previous studies: Age effects on AR Older adults are less strategic in encoding /
retrieving the most important information from discourse
and overuse ambiguous pronouns
BUT
have no problems disambiguating a pronoun on the basis of information presented in an immediately preceding sentence
(Hendriks et al., 2014; Light & Capps, 1986; Titone, Prentice, & Wingfield, 2000 a.o.)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Internal Factors
Linguistic Factors
Discourse Effects
Age Anaphora Resolution
•Linguistic Form (overt /∅) •Syntactic Complexity (Word Order)
•Cognitive Abilities •Language Experience
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Language experience
• may lead to variability in sentence comprehension performance.
how do we measure language experience?
• print exposure (Stanovich & West 1989)
• education level (Dabrowska 1997; Dabrowska & Street 2006)
Familiarity with print is positively correlated with better word recognition abilities (Chateau
& Jared, 2000; Fotiadou et al. 2014)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Research Questions and Predictions
• Age, Print exposure and Cognitive measures of memory will affect pronominal resolution
• Linguistic properties: Word-order and Context will affect pronominal resolution in all participants
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
METHODOLOGY
Participants
Materials & Procedure
Independent variables: Age & Education
10% 12,5%
2,5%
55,0%
15%
5%
0%
10%
20%
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40%
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60%
School Post-high School
College University Master PhD
Participants' Educational Level (%)
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18 20 21 23 25 26 28 29 31 32 33 34 35 37 38 41 42 50 52 54 57 61 63 69 71 72 73 75
N o
f p
arti
cip
ants
Distribution of Participants' Age
Male and female monolingual Greek speaking adults (N= 40, M= 40.7; Age range: 18-75)
Backwards digit recall task (Alloway, 2007)
To assess verbal working memory: Oral presentation of series of numbers with gradient difficulty
Immediate and delayed recall story task (Rivermead:
adapted for Greek by Efklides et al., 2002)
To assess episodic memory: Oral presentation of a story with 21 ideas. Participant’s performance is scored according to the number of ideas repeated.
Language Experience
Author and Magazine Recognition Tests (Fotiadou et al.,
2014; modelled after Stanovich and West, 1989)
Education levels (questionnaire)
Results:
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
L3 L4 L5 L6 L7
WM (%)
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ART MRT
ART-MRT scores (Mean)
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tell retell
Rivermead
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Word-order (topicality) & context effects
Topicality & word order the first out of two or more entities in a sentence – often the
grammatical subject and the continuing discourse topic – is the most salient one in the preceding discourse
(Ariel’s accessibility theory 1998; 1990; Arnold et al. 2000; Reinhart 1981)
Context contextual information prior to the target sentence helps
resolution in comparison with isolated sentences (eg. van Berkum, Brown & Hagoort ,1999: ERP findings)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Linguistic tasks self-paced listening antecedent identification
sentence-picture matching task
(E-prime: Schneider et al., 2002)
The effect of Word Order : SVO (unmarked) vs. OVS (marked) sentences in null (Condition 1) OR overt (Condition 2) pronouns
The effect of a preceding context with or without explicit reference to the actors: SVO sentences in null (Condition 1) OR overt (Condition 2) pronouns
The SPL experiments described include:
• 10 experimental items per condition
• 20 filler sentences
• 5 practice sentences
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Duration: 10-20 min approx.
Subject Referent
Object Referent
Other Referent
WORD ORDER
CONDITION 1
a. The old lady -NOM / waved at/ the pupil -ACC / when / she / was crossing/ the street.
b. The pupil -ACC/ her –Cl waved at / the old lady -NOM/ when / she / was crossing/ the street.
CONDITION 2
a. The old lady -NOM / waved at/ the pupil -ACC / when / Ø already/ was crossing/ the street.
b. The pupil -ACC/ her –Cl waved at / the old lady -NOM / when /Ø already/ was crossing/ the street.
Who was crossing the street?
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina FEM got angry and
splashed the singer FEM.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very
angry.
CONDITION 1: The ballerina FEM/ approached / the singer FEM / when / she / was entering / the
stage.
CONDITION 2 : The ballerina FEM/ approached / the singer FEM / when / Ø slowly/ was entering/
the stage. Who was entering the stage?
Subject Referent
Object Referent
Other Referent
Various combinations of pictorial stimuli Various syntactic structures in the sentences used
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
3 measures in the self-paced listening referent-matching task
online listening times (in msecs) per segment
offline RTs (in msecs) on matching decisions
Preferred referent (%)
The Analyses
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
• Aftos Pronoun
• Null Pronoun
Word Order
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The old ladyNOM The pupilACC
waved at herCl waved at
the pupil ACC the old ladyNOM
when she was crossing the street
svoaftos oclovsaftos
* *
*
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1000
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2500
The old ladyNOM The pupilACC
waved at herCl waved at
the pupil ACC the old ladyNOM
when ∅ already was crossing the street
svonull oclvsnull
*
• Aftos Pronoun
Context
• Null Pronoun
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina FEM got angry and splashed
the singer FEM.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very
angry.
500
1000
1500
2000
The ballerina approached the singer when she was entering the stage
* *
500
1000
1500
2000
The ballerina approached the singer when ∅ already was entering the stage
* *
Integration of known information slow down
RESPONSE LATENCIES PREFERRED REFERENTS
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20
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60
80
100
svo_aftos oclvs_aftos
Word Order - Overt Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
other
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40
60
80
100
svo_null oclvs_null
Word Order - Null Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
other
3000
3200
3400
3600
3800
4000
4200
4400
4600
svo_aftos oclvs_aftos
aftos
*
3000
3200
3400
3600
3800
4000
4200
4400
4600
svo_null oclvs_null
∅
Word order markedness Overt P
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100
svo_aftos oclvs_aftos
Word Order - Overt Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
other
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60
80
100
svo_null oclvs_null
Word Order - Null Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
other
WM r=-.443; p=.004
Lang.exp. r=-.406; p=.011
WM r=.560; p=.002
Episodic (immediate & delayed)
r=.389; p=.041 & r=.458; p=.014
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
0
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a_aftos b_aftos
Context - Overt Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
Other
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20
30
40
50
a_null b_null
Context - Null Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
Other
2500
2700
2900
3100
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3500
a_aftos b_aftos
aftos
2500
2700
2900
3100
3300
3500
a_null b_null
∅
No reference slower Response
*
*
*
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina got angry and splashed the singer.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very angry.
0
10
20
30
40
50
a_aftos b_aftos
Context - Overt Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
Other
0
10
20
30
40
50
a_null b_null
Context - Null Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
Other
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina got angry and splashed the singer.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very angry.
r=.402; p=.011
r=-.322; p=.046
Correlation with AGE:
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
0
10
20
30
40
50
a_aftos b_aftos
Context - Overt Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
Other
0
10
20
30
40
50
a_null b_null
Context - Null Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
Other
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina got angry and splashed the singer.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very angry.
r=-.376; p=.018 r=-.320;
p=.047
Lang. Experience (ART)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
0
10
20
30
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50
a_aftos b_aftos
Context - Overt Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
Other
0
10
20
30
40
50
a_null b_null
Context - Null Pronoun Reference
Subject
Object
Other
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina got angry and splashed the singer.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very angry.
Episodic M r=-.436; p=.033
Educ. Level: r=-.441; p=.031
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Summary and Conclusions • Linguistic properties : a. Word-order affected antecedent preference and RTs in
the overt pronoun conditions only b. Context affects pronominal resolution in the overt
condition (more subject antecedent in the +repeated NP condition)
Age effects in the neutral context: older participants selected ‘other’ referent more than object in the overt pronoun condition
Language experience affects antecedent preference in the overt pronoun condition (more language experience increases ambiguity in the subject/object antecedent preference)
Memory ability: Lower scores in episodic memory task more selection of ‘other’ referent in neutral context
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Overall, • Context : Pronominal resolution shows effects of
‘internal factors’ (age, language experience and episodic memory) in selected conditions only and primarily with overt pronouns
• This is consistent with work on attrition and second language learners showing that overt pronouns in NSL are affected
• Word-order : Memory and language experience affects the degree of overriding the default subject antecedent preference in the null pronoun condition
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Selected References Alloway, T.P. (2007). Automated Working Memory Assessment. London, UK: Harcourt Assessment Arnold, J. E., Brown-Schmidt, S., & Trueswell, J. (2007). Children’s use of gender and order of mention during pronoun comprehension.
Language and Cognitive Processes, 22, 527-565. Van Berkum, J. J. A., Brown, C. M., & Hagoort, P. (1999). Early referential context effects in sentence processing: Evidence from event-related
brain potentials. Journal of Memory and Language, 47, 147–182. Carminati, M. (2002). The Processing of Italian Subject Pronouns. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Chateau, D., & Jared, D. (2000). Exposure to print and word recognition processes. Memory and Cognition, 28, 143–153. Corbett, A. T., & Chang, F. R. (1983). Pronoun disambiguation: Accessing potential antecedents. Memory & Cognition, 11, 283- 294. Dimitriades, A. (1996). When Pro-Drop languages don’t: overt pronominal subjects and pragmatic inference. In: Dobrin, L.M., Singer, K. &
L.McNair (eds.) CLS 32: The Main Session, 33-47. Dwivedi, V., & Goldhawk, M. (2009). Underspecification of scope ambiguity and anaphora: Evidence from self-paced reading. Poster
presentation for the 22nd annual meeting of the CUNY Sentence Processing Conference, University of California, Davis, USA. Fotiadou, G., Fleva, E., Katsiperi, M. & Tsimpli, I. M. (2014). Exploring the effects of print exposure on lexical processing among Greek adults. In
Proceedings of the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT), Porto, Portugal., 310-312. Efklides, A., Yiultsi, E., Kangellidou, T., Kounti, F., Dina, F., & Tsolaki, M. (2002). Wechsler Memory Scale, Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test,
and Everyday Memory Questionnaire in Healthy Adults and Alzheimer Patients. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 18(1), Page 63-77
Hendriks, P., Koster, C., Hoeks, J. (2014). Referential choice across the lifespan: Why children and elderly adults produce ambiguous pronouns. Language and Cognitive Processes
Kaltsa, M. Tsimpli, I.M., Rothman, J. (in press) Exploring the source of differences and similarities in L1 attrition and heritage speaker competence: evidence from pronominal resolution. Lingua
Miltsakaki, E. (2003). The Syntax-Discourse Interface: Effects of the Main-Subordinate Distinction on Attention Structure. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
Myers, J. L., & O’Brien, E. J. (1998). Accessing the discourse representations during reading. Discourse Processes, 26, 131-157. Nieuwland, M. S., & Van Berkum, J. J. A. (2006). When peanuts fall in love: N400 evidence for the power of discourse. Journal of Cognitive
Neuroscience, 18(7), 1098-1111. Papadopoulou, D. Peristeri, E., Plemmenou, L., Marinis, T., Tsimpli, I.M. (in press) Pronoun ambiguity resolution: Evidence from monolingual
adults and children. Lingua Tsimpli, I.M., Sorace, A., Heycock, C. & Filiaci, F. (2004). First Language Attrition and Syntactic Subjects: A Study of Greek and Italian Near-Native
Speakers of English. International Journal of Bilingualism, 8, 257-277 van Rij J., van Rij, H., Hendriks, P. (2013). How WM load influences linguistic processing in adults: a computational model of pronoun
interpretation in discourse. Topics in Cognitive Science, 5, 564–580
Special thanks to the participants
&
Thank you for your attention!
This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program "Education and Lifelong Learning" of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)