The effects of verb- and event-based knowledge on direct object prediction

Milburn, Evelyn (2014) The effects of verb- and event-based knowledge on direct object prediction. Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Previous research suggests that comprehenders rapidly predict upcoming words on the basis of both language and event knowledge (e.g., Kamide et al, 2003), but we know little about how these kinds of knowledge interact in driving prediction. We report a visual-world eye-tracking study comparing prediction driven by the combination of event knowledge and a weakly constraining verb to prediction driven by event knowledge and a verb that places strong semantic constraints on its arguments. College-aged adults (n=36) viewed photographs of natural scenes while listening to sentences. Participants anticipated upcoming direct objects similarly regardless of the presence of a strongly constraining verb. We discuss these findings in light of literature on selectional restriction violations (Paczynski & Kuperberg, 2012; Warren & McConnell, 2007) and research suggesting that event-related knowledge is used very early in sentence comprehension (McRae & Matsuki, 2009), as well as the relationship between prediction and production.

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Details

Item Type:	University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status:	Unpublished
Creators/Authors:	Creators Email Pitt Username ORCID Milburn, Evelyn eam115@pitt.edu EAM115
ETD Committee:	Title Member Email Address Pitt Username ORCID Committee Chair Warren, Tessa tessa@pitt.edu TESSA Committee Member Dickey, Michael Walsh mdickey@pitt.edu MDICKEY Committee Member Perfetti, Charles perfetti@pitt.edu PERFETTI
Date:	16 September 2014
Date Type:	Publication
Defense Date:	30 April 2014
Approval Date:	16 September 2014
Submission Date:	5 August 2014
Access Restriction:	2 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 2 years.
Number of Pages:	40
Institution:	University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs:	Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology
Degree:	MS - Master of Science
Thesis Type:	Master's Thesis
Refereed:	Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:	psycholinguistics, prediction, world knowledge, verb constraints, sentence processing
Date Deposited:	16 Sep 2014 14:59
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2016 14:23
URI:	http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22649

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• The effects of verb- and event-based knowledge on direct object prediction. (deposited 16 Sep 2014 14:59) [Currently Displayed]

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