%0 Journal Article %1 McRaeEtAl1998 %A McRae, Ken %A Spivey-Knowlton, Michael J. %A Tanenhaus, Michael K. %D 1998 %I Elsevier Inc. %J Journal of Memory and Language %K imported %N 3 %P 283--312 %T Modeling the influence of thematic fit (and other constraints) in on-line sentence comprehension %V 38 %X The time-course with which readers use event-specific world knowledge (thematic fit) to resolve structural ambiguity was explored through experiments and implementation of constraint-based and two-stage models. In a norming study, subjects completed fragments that ended in the ambiguous region of a reduced relative clause (The crook arrested/by/the/detective). Completion proportions up to and including the were influenced by thematic fit. The results were simulated using a competition model in which independently quantified syntactic and semantic constraints simultaneously influenced interpretation. Predictions were then generated for a self-paced reading task using model parameter values established by the off-line simulations. The pattern of reading times matched the predictions of the constraint-based version of the model but differed substan- tially from a one-region delay garden-path version. In addition, a garden-path model with a very short delay simulated the data better than the one-region delay model, but not as closely as the constraint-based version. The experiment and modeling illustrate that thematic fit is computed and used immediately in on-line sentence comprehension. Furthermore, the modeling highlighted the difficulty of interpreting sentence comprehension experiments without both quantifying the relevant constraints and implementing the mechanisms involved.

@article{McRaeEtAl1998, abstract = { The time-course with which readers use event-specific world knowledge (thematic fit) to resolve structural ambiguity was explored through experiments and implementation of constraint-based and two-stage models. In a norming study, subjects completed fragments that ended in the ambiguous region of a reduced relative clause (The crook arrested/by/the/detective). Completion proportions up to and including the were influenced by thematic fit. The results were simulated using a competition model in which independently quantified syntactic and semantic constraints simultaneously influenced interpretation. Predictions were then generated for a self-paced reading task using model parameter values established by the off-line simulations. The pattern of reading times matched the predictions of the constraint-based version of the model but differed substan- tially from a one-region delay garden-path version. In addition, a garden-path model with a very short delay simulated the data better than the one-region delay model, but not as closely as the constraint-based version. The experiment and modeling illustrate that thematic fit is computed and used immediately in on-line sentence comprehension. Furthermore, the modeling highlighted the difficulty of interpreting sentence comprehension experiments without both quantifying the relevant constraints and implementing the mechanisms involved. }, added-at = {2009-07-06T12:52:47.000+0200}, author = {McRae, Ken and Spivey-Knowlton, Michael J. and Tanenhaus, Michael K.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/247838bfcedc842ee8e7fb83714e9da71/tmalsburg}, interhash = {715ef77736c2c88e974d1add919f73b7}, intrahash = {47838bfcedc842ee8e7fb83714e9da71}, journal = {Journal of Memory and Language}, keywords = {imported}, number = 3, pages = {283--312}, publisher = {Elsevier Inc.}, timestamp = {2009-07-06T12:52:47.000+0200}, title = {{Modeling the influence of thematic fit (and other constraints) in on-line sentence comprehension}}, volume = 38, year = 1998 }