Expectations from relative clauses: Real-time coherence updates in discourse processing
Jet Hoek, Hannah Rohde, Jacqueline Evers-Vermeul, Ted Sanders
Abstract
When processing a text, comprehenders use available cues to anticipate both upcoming content and the dependencies that comprise the structure of the growing discourse. In an eye-tracking while reading experiment, we test discourse updating in passages in which dependencies are implicit and the segments convey content that is not required to participate in any coherence-driven inference. This study provides strong evidence of comprehenders' ability to build implicit non-obligatory discourse structure in real time.
Topics & Concepts
Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy)PsychologyInferenceComprehensionLinguisticsReading (process)Cognitive psychologyEye trackingReading comprehensionDiscourse analysisNatural language processingArtificial intelligenceComputer sciencePhilosophyPhysicsQuantum mechanicsNeurobiology of Language and BilingualismLanguage, Metaphor, and CognitionText Readability and Simplification