Memory interference during language processing.
The authors studied the operation of working memory in language comprehension by examining the reading of complex sentences. Reading time and comprehension accuracy in self-paced reading by college students were studied as a function of type of embedded clause (object-extracted vs. subject-extracted) and the types of noun phrases (NPs) in the stimulus sentences, including relative clauses and clefts. The poorer language comprehension performance typically observed for object-extracted compared with subject-extracted forms was found to depend strongly on the mixture of types of NPs (descriptions, indexical pronouns, and names) in a sentence. Having two NPs of the same type led to a larger performance difference than having two NPs of a different type. The findings support a conception of working memory in which similarity-based interference plays an important role in sentence complexity effects.
Gordon
P C
PC
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599-3270, USA. pcg@email.unc.edu
Hendrick
R
R
Johnson
M
M
D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011932:Reading