Maintaining global coherence in reading : The role of sentence boundaries

In four experiments, we examined the reinstatement of backgrounded information in locally coherent passages, investigating the influence of syntactic boundaries, such as periods, on the time course of this process. In Experiment 1, using a line-by-line reading paradigm, readers were delayed in notic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memory & cognition 2000-07, Vol.28 (5), p.722-730
Main Authors: GUZMAN, A. E, KLIN, C. M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition & reasoning
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Language
Linguistics
Production and perception of written language
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Random Allocation
Reaction Time
Reading
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Summary:In four experiments, we examined the reinstatement of backgrounded information in locally coherent passages, investigating the influence of syntactic boundaries, such as periods, on the time course of this process. In Experiment 1, using a line-by-line reading paradigm, readers were delayed in noticing a contradiction on a target line when the sentence continued onto a posttarget line. Consistent with this, in Experiments 2A and 2B, the results of a recognition probe demonstrated that relevant concepts from long-term memory were not integrated immediately unless the contradiction was followed by a period. Experiment 3 demonstrated that sentence boundaries are sufficient to facilitate the integration of related background information but are not necessary; additional time served the same purpose. Consistent with a memory-based text-processing framework, it appears that the reactivation of related information is initiated automatically but that an integration stage is influenced by such factors as syntactic boundaries.
ISSN:0090-502X
1532-5946
DOI:10.3758/BF03198406