Electrophysiological and behavioral evidence of syntactic priming in sentence comprehension.

Abstract

Event-related potentials and eye tracking were used to investigate the nature of priming effects in sentence comprehension. Participants read 2 sentences (a prime sentence and a target sentence), both of which had a difficult and ambiguous sentence structure. The prime and target sentences contained either the same verb or verbs that were very close in meaning. Priming effects were robust when the verb was repeated. In the event-related potential experiment, the amplitude of the P600 was reduced in target sentences that followed prime sentences with the same verb but not in prime sentences with a synonymous verb. In the eye-tracking experiment, total reading times on the disambiguating region were reduced when the targets followed prime sentences with the same verb but not when targets followed prime sentences with a synonymous verb. The fact that verb overlap greatly boosted priming effects in reduced relative sentences may indicate that verb argument structures play an important role in online parsing.

Syntactic priming and the lexical boost effect during sentence production and sentence comprehension: An fMRI study

“…In the behavioral and ERP literature, findings of syntactic priming in comprehension seem to be almost completely dependent on repetition of the head-word (Arai et al, 2007;Branigan et al, 2005;Carminati et al, 2008;Ledoux et al, 2007;Tooley et al, 2009;Traxler & Tooley, 2007). On the other hand, syntactic priming in production is often observed without lexical repetition (e.g.…”

“…Syntactic priming in comprehension is shown in anticipatory eye-movements to pictures (Arai, van Gompel, & Scheepers, 2007;Carminati, van Gompel, Scheepers, & Arai, 2008;Thothathiri & Snedeker, 2008a;Traxler, 2008), in faster reading (Traxler & Tooley, 2008) and in picture-matching choices for ambiguous phrases (Branigan, Pickering, & McLean, 2005). In comprehension tasks, ERP studies revealed the attenuation of the P600 amplitude as a result of syntactic priming (Ledoux, Traxler, & Swaab, 2007;Tooley, Traxler, & Swaab, 2009).…”

“…Syntactic priming in comprehension seems to be dependent on repetition of the head-word (usually a verb: Arai et al, 2007; 0093-934X/$ -see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2012.12.003 2005;Carminati et al, 2008;Ledoux et al, 2007;Tooley et al, 2009;Traxler & Tooley, 2007). Strikingly, so far only three comprehension studies reported syntactic priming independent from verb repetition (Thothathiri & Snedeker, 2008a,b;Traxler, 2008).…”

Structural priming among prepositional phrases: Evidence from eye movements

“…In Sentence 5, the PP with the rifle is an instrument PP, because the noun in the PP represents the t object used (by an unnamed agent) to perform the action shot. 3 Previous experiments have shown that sentences with agent PPs prime reduced relative target sentences with agent PPs (Ledoux et al, 2007;Pickering & Traxler, 2004;Tooley et al, 2007;Traxler & Pickering, 2005;Traxler & Tooley, in press). The question that this experiment was designed to address was: Will agent and instrument sentences facilitate each other as much as they facilitate themselves?…”

“…Such effects are commonly observed in language production (e.g., Bock, 1986;Bock & Loebell, 1990;Branigan, Pickering, & Cleland, 2000) and, under the right circumstances, in online comprehension (Arai, van Gompel, & Scheepers, 2007;Ledoux, Traxler, & Swaab, 2007;Pickering & Traxler, 2004;Traxler & Pickering, 2005;Traxler & Tooley, in press). 1 For example, in an ERP study (Tooley, Traxler, & Swaab, 2007), reduced relative prime sentences, such as Sentences 1 and 2 below, appeared before a reduced relative target sentence, such as Sentence 3.…”