CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 278Neurobiology of Language and BilingualismSyntax, Semantics, Linguistic VariationReading and Literacy Development

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The Role of Lexical Frequency in Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution

Open access
Trueswell, John C.·1996·Journal of Memory and Language
DOI 10.1006/jmla.1996.0030
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

The role of lexical frequency in syntactic ambiguity resolution was explored in two self-paced reading studies of ambiguous reduced relative clauses. Recent constraint-based models of syntactic ambiguity resolution have proposed that for a reduced relative clause (e.g., “The room searched by the police was . . .”), both the participle and past tense forms of the ambiguous verb (“searched”) are made available in parallel and that local syntactic and semantic information are used to resolve the ambiguity within a parallel constraint-satisfaction process (MacDonald, Pearlmutter, & Seidenberg, 1994a; Trueswell, Tanenhaus, & Garnsey, 1994). A crucial prediction of these models is that the frequency with which the verb is used as a participle form in the language should affect a reader's ability to consider the relative clause alternative. This prediction was confirmed in two self-paced reading experiments that directly manipulated participle frequency while controlling for the degree of contextual constraint. Implications for constraint-based lexicalist accounts of sentence comprehension are discussed.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1006/jmla.1996.0030

Cites

2 of 2 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Figures

FIG. 1 Mean reduction effects in milliseconds (reading times for reduced relatives minus reading times for unreduced relatives) summed across words for each region (Experiment 1).
FIG. 1 Mean reduction effects in milliseconds (reading times for reduced relatives minus reading times for unreduced relatives) summed across words for each region (Experiment 1).CC-BY-NC-ND · From the PDF
FIG. 2 Mean reduction effects in milliseconds (reading times for reduced relatives minus reading times for unreduced relatives) summed across words for each region (Experiment 2).
FIG. 2 Mean reduction effects in milliseconds (reading times for reduced relatives minus reading times for unreduced relatives) summed across words for each region (Experiment 2).CC-BY-NC-ND · From the PDF

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Show all 2 references

Research works printed but not linked: 22

  1. structures. In J. R. Hayes (Ed.) Cognition and the FRAZIER, L. (1987). Sentence processing: A tutorial re- development of language. New York: John Wiley view. In M. Coltheart (Ed.), Attention and perfor- and Sons. mance XII. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associ-
  2. BOLAND, J. E., TANENHAUS, M. K., GARNSEY, S. M., & ates. CARLSON, G. (1995). Verb argument structure in FRAZIER, L. (1989). Against lexical generation of syntax. parsing and interpretation: Evidence from wh-ques- In W. Marslen-Wilson (Ed.), Lexical representation tions. Journal of Memory and Language, 34, 774- and process. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 806.
  3. sitional phrases. Journal of Memory and Language, FRAZIER, L., & RAYNER, K. (1982). Making and correct- 33, 251-283. ing errors during sentence comprehension: Eye
  4. BRITT, M. A., PERFETTI, C. A., GARROD, S., & RAYNER, movements in the analysis of structurally ambiguous K. (1992). Parsing and discourse: Context effects and sentences. Cognitive Psychology, 14, 178-210. their limits. Journal of Memory and Language, 31, 293-314.
  5. JULIANO, C., & TABOR, W. (1995). Frequency-contrast and grammatical representation: The case of fre- BURGESS, C. (1991). Interaction of semantic, syntactic and visual factors in syntactic ambiguity resolution. quency by regularity interactions. Paper presented at the 8th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sen- Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Psychology, Uni- versity of Rochester, Rochester, NY. tence Processing. Tucson, AZ.
  6. JULIANO, C., & TANENHAUS, M. K. (1993). Contingent course influences during parsing are delayed. Cogni- tion, 45, 109-139. frequency effects in syntactic ambiguity resolution. In Proceedings of the 15th annual conference of the RAYNER, K., PACHT, J. M., & DUFFY, S. A. (1994). Effects Cognitive Science Society. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence of prior encounter and discourse bias on the pro- Erlbaum Associates. cessing of lexically ambiguous words: Evidence from eye fixations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, JUST, M. A., CARPENTER, P. A., & WOOLLEY, J. (1982). Paradigms and processes in reading comprehension. 527-544. Journal of Experimental Psychology, General, 111, SEIDENBERG, M. S., & MCCLELLAND, J. L. (1989). A 228-238. distributed developmental model of word recognition and naming. Psychological Review, 96, 523-568.
  7. MACDONALD, M. C. (1994). Probabilistic constraints and syntactic ambiguity resolution. Language and Cogni-SERENO, S. C., PACHT, J. M., & RAYNER, K. (1992). The tive Processes, 9, 157-201. effect of meaning frequency on processing lexically ambiguous words: Evidence from eye fixations. Psy- MACDONALD, M. C., PEARLMUTTER, N. J., & SEIDEN- BERG, M. S. (1994a). The lexical nature of syntactic chological Science, 3(5), 296-299.
  8. ambiguity resolution. Psychological Review, 101, SIMPSON, G., & BURGESS, B. (1985). Activation and selec- 676-703. tion processes in the recognition of ambiguous words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human
  9. as lexical ambiguity resolution. In C. Clifton, L. Fra-SIMPSON, G. B., & KRUEGER, M. A. (1991). Selective zier, & K. Rayner (Eds.), Perspectives on sentence access of homograph meanings in sentence context. processing. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Asso- Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 627-643.
  10. ciates. SPIVEY-KNOWLTON, M. J., & SEDIVY, J. (1995). Resolving MARSLEN-WILSON, W. D., & TYLER, L. K. (1987). attachment ambiguities with multiple constraints. Against modularity. In J. Garfield (Ed.), Modularity Cognition, 55, 227-267. in knowledge representations and natural language SPIVEY-KNOWLTON, M. J., TRUESWELL, J. C., & TANEN- understanding. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  11. MCCLELLAND, J. L. (1987). The case for interactionism in resolution. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 47, language processing.
  12. In M. Coltheart (Ed.), Attention 276-309.
  13. NI, W., & CRAIN, S. (1990). How to resolve structural Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, ambiguities. In Proceedings of the 20th annual meet- 18, 645-659. ing of the North Eastern Linguistic Society.
  14. Amherst, TABOSSI, P. (1988). Accessing lexical ambiguity in differ- MA: Graduate Student Linguistics Association. ent types of sentential contexts. Journal of Memory
  15. PEARLMUTTER, N. J., & MACDONALD, M. C. (1992). Gar- and Language, 27, 324-340. den-paths in ''simple'' sentences. Paper presented TABOSSI, P., COLOMBO, L., JOB., R. (1987). Accessing at the Fifth Annual CUNY Conference on Human lexical ambiguity: Effects of context and dominance. Sentence Processing. New York, NY. Psychological Research, 49(2-3), 161-167.
  16. Moscovitch (Eds.) Attention and performance XV. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  17. PLAUT, D. C., MCCLELLAND, J. L., SEIDENBERG, M. S., & PATTERSON, K. E. (1996). Understanding Normal and TABOSSI, P., & ZARDON, F. (1993). Processing ambiguous Impaired Word Reading: Computational Principles words in context. Journal of Memory and Language, of Quasi-Regular Domains. Psychological Review, 32(3), 359-372. 103, 56-115.
  18. TANENHAUS, M. K., LEIMAN, J., & SEIDENBERG, M. S. RAYNER, K., CARLSON, M., & FRAZIER, L. (1983). The (1979). Evidence for multiple stages in the pro- interaction of syntax and semantics during sentence cessing of ambiguous words in syntactic contexts. processing. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, Behavior, 22, 358-374. 18, 427-440.
  19. RAYNER, K., & FRAZIER, L. (1989). Selectional mecha-TANENHAUS, M. K., SPIVEY-KNOWLTON, M. J., EBER- nisms in reading lexically ambiguous words. Journal HARD, K. M., & SEDIVY, J. C. (1995). Interpretation of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and of visual and linguistic information in spoken lan- Cognition, 5, 779-790. guage comprehension. Science, 268, 1632-1634.
  20. RAYNER, K., GARROD, S., & PERFETTI, C. A. (1992). Dis- a lexicalist framework for constraint-based syntactic resolution. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 285-318.
  21. ambiguity resolution. In C. Clifton, K. Rayner, & L. Frazier (Eds.), Perspectives on sentence processing. TRUESWELL, J. C., TANENHAUS, M. K., & KELLO, C. (1993). Verb-specific constraints in sentence pro- Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  22. TRUESWELL, J. C., & TANENHAUS, M. K. (1991). Tense, cessing: Separating effects of lexical preference from garden-paths. Journal of Experimental Psychology: temporal context and syntactic ambiguity resolution. Language and Cognitive Processes, 6, 303-338. Learning, Memory and Cognition, 19(3), 528-553.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

See all

Metadata

Authors
Trueswell, J. C.
Affiliations
University of Pennsylvania (US)
Corresponding author
Trueswell, John C.
ORCID
Trueswell, John C.
Venue
Journal of Memory and Language
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
1996-08
Volume
35
Issue
4
Pages
566-585
ISSN
0749-596X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1006/jmla.1996.0030
OpenAlex
W2087315543
Cited by
277
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 11
FWCI
7.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
Journal of Memory and Language (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
Keywords
word frequency, syntactic ambiguity resolution, reduced relative clauses, constraint-based modeling, constraint satisfaction, sentence comprehension, self-paced reading, verb forms

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review