On the role of the simplicity heuristic in language processing: evidence from structural and inferential processing

• Published in: Journal of psycholinguistic research 1989-11, Vol.18 (6), p.553-562
• Main Authors: OSTERHOUT, L, SWINNEY, D. A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Language; Production and perception of written language; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology
• ISSN: 0090-6905; 1573-6555
• DOI: 10.1007/BF01067159

The adequacy of simplicity heuristics in accounting for the resolution of local ambiguity in structural processing, & lack of inferential elaboration in discourse processing, is examined. The simplicity heuristic claims that in processing ambiguous structures, the simplest possible structure is attempted first, followed by reanalysis if this turns out to be incorrect. However, other possible heuristics should be considered. A study is reported in which event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during processing of verbs that, under the simplicity metric, would be biased toward either a transitive or an intransitive interpretation (N = 12 adults). An ERP component associated with syntactic anomaly was recorded following transitively biased but not intransitively biased verbs in intransitive structures. This supports the claim that Ss initially posited a single structure for both sentence types, & that information about verb transitivity preferences determined which analysis was initially pursued. These findings are not consistent with the strict minimal attachment heuristic. The claim of minimal inference generation, in which listeners construct only those inferences that are minimally necessary for discourse coherence, was tested. Ss (N not specified) heard two-sentence paragraphs. In one version, the first sentence presented a standard scripted scenario, the second a neutral context. The second sentence in each version implied the use of an instrument often found in the standard scenario. Inference generation was measured by a cross-modal priming task. Findings indicate that certain kinds of "elaborative" inferences are reliably made under certain conditions, disconfirming the predictions of the minimal elaboration hypothesis. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 14 References. B. Annesser Murray