Gricean Expectations in Online Sentence Comprehension: An ERP Study on the Processing of Scalar Inferences

Abstract

There is substantial support for the general idea that a formalization of comprehenders' expectations about the likely next word in a sentence helps explaining data related to online sentence processing. While much research has focused on syntactic, semantic, and discourse expectations, the present event‐related potentials (ERPs) study investigates neurolinguistic correlates of pragmatic expectations, which arise when comprehenders expect a sentence to conform to Gricean Maxims of Conversation. For predicting brain responses associated with pragmatic processing, we introduce a formal model of such Gricean pragmatic expectations, using an idealized incremental interpreter. We examine whether pragmatic expectancies derived from this model modulate the amplitude of the N400, a component that has been associated with predictive processing. As part of its parameterization, the model distinguishes genuine pragmatic interpreters, who expect maximally informative true utterances, from literal interpreters, who only expect truthfulness. We explore the model's non‐trivial predictions for an experimental setup which uses picture‐sentence verification with ERPs recorded at several critical positions in sentences containing the scalar implicature trigger some. We find that Gricean expectations indeed affect the N400, largely in line with the predictions of our model, but also discuss discrepancies between model predictions and observations critically.

Context and Complexity in Incremental Sentence Interpretation: An ERP Study on Temporal Quantification

“…Importantly for the present considerations, in Augurzky et al (2020), positive and negative quantifiers elicited differential mid-sentence brain responses following the identical pictures, therefore ruling out a strategy according to which participants just focused on the pictorial information and mapped this information with the lexical contents of the color adjective (see also Augurzky et al, 2019, for a study on the scalar quantifier some, which indicates immediate quantifier effects on mid-sentence ERPs).…”

“…However, we believe that a unified account for the N400 effects across sentence positions, and also across experiments, may explain the whole range of data more parsimoniously than an account that assumes qualitatively different processes just for the infinitive position in the current experiment. Given the highly comparable ERP effects at early and later positions across studies on quantifier restriction, we consider it unlikely that ERPs at the infinitive and the PP noun in the present study need to be associated with different processes (see the comparable pattern at early and late sentence positions in Augurzky et al, 2016Augurzky et al, , 2019Augurzky et al, , 2020, which examine nominal quantifiers that differ about their semantic properties and pictures that differ concerning their complexity).…”

“…EEG data were analyzed statistically by carrying out repeated-measures ANOVAs for mean amplitude values within time windows per condition, which were chosen based on previous studies (Augurzky et al, 2017): a 300-400 time window was chosen to capture the N400, and a later 450-800 ms time window as used for capturing later effects. Based on previous studies on quantifier domain restriction (Augurzky et al, 2017(Augurzky et al, , 2019(Augurzky et al, , 2020, four regions of interest (Rois) were introduced into the analysis of variance: left anterior (Roi 1: F3, F7, FC1, and FC5), right anterior (Roi 2: F4, F8, FC2, and FC6), left posterior (Roi 3: CP1, CP5, C3, and P3), and right posterior (Roi 4: CP2, CP6, C4, and P4). From infinitive onset, the analysis involved the factors CONTEXT (A_complex locally false , B_simple true , C_simple false , D_complex locally false ), and ROI (1, 2, 3, 4), whereas from the preposition, the analysis included the factors CONTEXT (A_complex locally false , B_simple true , C_simple false , D_complex locally false ), TAGE (Arbeitstage, Feiertage), and ROI (1, 2, 3, 4).…”

“…Analogous to previous studies on quantifier restriction (Augurzky et al, 2017(Augurzky et al, , 2019(Augurzky et al, , 2020, we applied bandpass filtering without baseline correction. This method has become common practice in recent ERP studies on language comprehension (e.g., Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Roehm, Mailhammer, & Schlesewsky, 2020;Chan et al, 2020).…”

The Cost of the Epistemic Step: Investigating Scalar Implicatures in Full and Partial Information Contexts

“…Degen and Tanenhaus (2015) showed that implicatures were processed more costly if other scalar terms such as number words were available in the context. Finally, Augurzky et al (2019) observed that the contrast between all vs. some may prime the scalar implicature, more specifically, if such a contrast was not present in the context, the implicature was processed more shallowly.…”