Pronoun disambiguation: Accessing potential antecedents
Memory & CognitionPublished 1 May 1983Open access
Albert T. Corbett, Frederick R. Chang
Citations137
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.15
SNIP1.32
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
Results indicated that the nonantecedent as well as the antecedent was activated (accessed) in pronoun disambiguation.
Abstract
Two general classes of pronoun disambiguation processes are considered. In reading "Jack threw a snowball at Phil, but he missed," both possible antecedents of "he" ("Jack" and "Phil") may be accessed initially. Or, the actual antecedent alone may be accessed after sufficient semantic context is encoded. To evaluate these alternatives, a yes-no-probe recognition task was used to measure priming of the potential antecedents in sentence comprehension. Subjects read sentences similar to the example and were presented a test word immediately following each sentence. Response times for the actual antecedent ("Jack") and nonantecedent ("Phil") probes were obtained. Results indicated that the nonantecedent as well as the antecedent was activated (accessed) in pronoun disambiguation. This conclusion was not affected by the ordering of the antecedent and nonantecedent in the first clause.
Keywords
PsychologyComputer ScienceNeuroscience
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorThe language-as-fixed-effect fallacy: A critique of language statistics in psychological research
2,263 Citations1973Herbert H. Clark
Psychology Press eBooksCognitive Processes in Comprehension
1,151 Citations2013Marcel Adam Just, Patricia A. Carpenter
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorWhat's new? Acquiring New information as a process in comprehension
1,147 Citations1974Susan E. Haviland, Herbert H. Clark
Perception & PsychophysicsRecognition memory for syntactic and semantic aspects of connected discourse
1,131 Citations1967Jacqueline Sachs
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorThe role of parallel function in the acquisition of relative clauses in English
465 Citations1974Amy Sheldon
Basic Processes in Reading
463 Citations2017David LaBerge, S. Jay Samuels
Memory & CognitionIn search of referents for nouns and pronouns
305 Citations1979Herbert H. Clark, Ceren Şengül
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorThe on-line effects of semantic context on syntactic processing
267 Citations1977Lorraine K. Tyler, William D. Marslen‐Wilson
This experiment tested the claim that on-line syntactic processing is autonomous and not affected by semantic context, and heard sentence fragments containing syntactically ambiguous phrases, and the first clause of each fragment biased the listener toward one of its readings.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorPriming in episodic and semantic memory
262 Citations1979Gail McKoon, Roger Ratcliff
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorThe comprehension processes and memory structures involved in anaphoric reference
239 Citations1980Gail McKoon, Roger Ratcliff
The inference processes involved in anaphoric reference were examined and it is concluded that these methods involve considerable problems in experimental design and theoretical interpretation and are also limited in the kinds of information they can provide about inference processing.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorComprehension of anaphoric pronouns
233 Citations1977Alfonso Caramazza, Ellen Grober +2 more
Memory & CognitionMemory in reading and listening to discourse
228 Citations1974Jacqueline Sachs
Recognition at the first test interval was significantly better after listening than after reading, although the eventual level of recognition memory was not different in the two modes, suggesting that acoustic-phonetic memory played a role in the storage of the auditorally presented material.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorPriming in item recognition: Evidence for the propositional structure of sentences
210 Citations1978Roger Ratcliff, Gail McKoon
CognitionFactors influencing assignment of pronoun antecedents
191 Citations1974Catherine Garvey, Alfonso Caramazza +1 more
Memory & CognitionActive memory processes in visual sentence comprehension: Clause effects and pronominal reference
184 Citations1980Frederick R. Chang
Results indicated that a pronoun in the final clause activated the meaning of its antecedent, thus demonstrating that the method is sensitive to both surface and meaning codes in active memory.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorForegrounding effects in discourse comprehension
150 Citations1979Alan M. Lesgold, Steven F. Roth +1 more
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorPriming in item recognition: The organization of propositions in memory for text
144 Citations1980Gail McKoon, Roger Ratcliff
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorThe comprehension processes and memory structures involved in instrumental inference
119 Citations1981Gail McKoon, Roger Ratcliff
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorRepresentation and retention of verbatim information
58 Citations1977John R. Anderson, Rebecca Paulson
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorContextual aspects of pronoun assignment
48 Citations1980William Hirst, Gary A. Brill
It was concluded that integration must occur during rather than following assignment and suggested that pronouns act as indicators to integrate text.
Memory & CognitionRetention functions for syntactic and lexical vs semantic information in sentence recognition memory
42 Citations1974Ian Begg, Wayne A. Wickelgren
In a continuous recognition memory design, Ss judged whether each sentence was identical in form and meaning to some previously presented sentence, then judged whether the sentence was similar in meaning irrespective of form, and, finally, rated the likelihood of recognizing the sentence ff it was presented an hour later (memorability).
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal BehaviorThe given-new contract and the constructive aspect of memory for ideas
26 Citations1977Michel Hupet, Brigitte Le Bouëdec
Memory & CognitionParallel scanning of physical and category information
9 Citations1976David Burrows, Ronald Okada
In Sternberg’s memory scan paradigm, subjects were required to scan for category membership or physical identity and the results were interpreted as evidence for the capacity to conduct parallel scans of independent memory encodings when retrieving remembered information.
Perception & PsychophysicsInterdigital transfer of kinesthetic after-effects
2 Citations1966Richard W. Thompson, Richard Enter +1 more