title: Immediate disambiguation of lexically ambiguous words during reading: evidence from eye movements.
abstract: Sentences containing lexically ambiguous words were read as readers' eye movements were monitored. On half of the trials, the dominant meaning of the ambiguous word was instantiated, while in the other half, the subordinate meaning was instantiated. Furthermore, on half of the trials, an adjective or modifier immediately preceded the target noun (kitchen table, statistical table), which was consistent with either the dominant or subordinate meaning. The results of the experiment demonstrate that readers are able to immediately utilize the modifier to select the appropriate meaning of the ambiguous word.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003, USA. rayner@psych.umass.edu
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rayner
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Barbara J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Juhasz
authors.forename: Lyn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frazier
mesh_terms: D032882:Comprehension; D005133:Eye Movements; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D011336:Probability; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics