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Abstract:
We present two studies of interference effects on
on-line syntactic processing. Both studies used self-paced
listening with end-of-sentence plausibility judgments.
Sentences differed in syntactic complexity, with more complex
sentences containing object-relativized clauses (subject object
(SO) and cleft object (CO) sentences) and simpler sentences
containing subject-relativized clauses (subject subject (SS),
object subject (OS), and cleft subject (CS) sentences).
In the first study, 36 undergraduate students were
tested under concurrent load conditions that were varied between
no load, a 3 digit load, and a 5 digit load. In three
comparisons, (SOSS; SOOS; COCS) there were effects of load and of
syntactic complexity in digit recall, in RTs on the plausibility
judgments, and in self-paced listening times. In the
self-paced listening data, listening times increased at the
embedded verb of object-relativized sentences, reflecting the
increase in load at that point. There were no interactions
of load and complexity in any performances.
In the second study, 90 undergraduate students
were tested on CO and CS sentences under noise conditions that
were varied between no noise, a -3 dB S:N ratio, and a -4.5 dB
S:N ratio. Noise effected word recognition, as measured by
repetition, in both sentence types equally. There were
effects of noise and of syntactic complexity in RTs on the
plausibility judgments, and in self-paced listening times.
In the self-paced listening data, listening times increased at
the embedded verb of object-relativized sentences, reflecting the
increase in load at that point. There were no interactions
of load and complexity in the self-paced listening times.
These results indicate that on-line syntactic
processing is not affected by either a concurrent memory load or
concurrent noise. They provide evidence that the processes
involved in assigning one aspect of syntactic structure are at
least partially independent of those that retain items in a
general verbal working memory system.
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