Overspecification facilitates object identification

Arts, Anja; Maes, Alfons; Noordman, L.G.M.; Jansen, C.J.H.

doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2010.07.013

Cited by 133 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Thus, the study provided VIOLATIONS OF GRICEAN MAXIMS 9 evidence that redundancy does impair comprehension. Yet these findings are in conflict with those from Arts et al (2011), who showed that redundancy can facilitate comprehension. Also, because Engelhardt et al did not examine the impact of referential ambiguity, it remains an open question how the time-course of the redundancy effect compares to that of ambiguity.…”

Section: Violations Of Gricean Maximscontrasting

confidence: 82%

“…Furthermore, Arts, Maes, Noordman and Jansen (2011) found that redundancy does not always hinder object identification; in some cases, it can even facilitate comprehension. For instance, when the description round button identified the referent uniquely, round white button neither hindered nor facilitated referent identification, and highly redundant descriptions like large round white button led to shorter identification times relative to round button.…”

Section: Ambiguity First Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 98%

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How do violations of Gricean maxims affect reading?

Fukumura

Gompel

2017

Journal of Memory and Language

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Four eye-tracking experiments examined how violations of the Gricean maxim of quantity affect reading. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that first-pass reading times for size-modified definite nouns (the small towel) were longer when the modifier was redundant, as the context contained one rather than two possible referents, whereas first-pass times for bare nouns (the towel) were unaffected by whether the context contained multiple referents that resulted in ambiguity. Experiment 3 showed that unlike redundant size modifiers, redundant color modifiers did not increase first-pass times. Experiment 4 confirmed this finding, demonstrating that the effect of redundancy was dependent on the meaning of the modifier. We propose that initial referential processing is led by the lexico-semantic representation of the referring expression rather than Gricean expectations about optimal informativeness: Redundancy of a size-modifier immediately disrupts comprehension because the processor fails to activate the referential contrast implied by the meaning of the modifier, whereas referential ambiguity has no immediate effect, as it allows the activation of at least one semantically-compatible referent. VIOLATIONS OF GRICEAN MAXIMS 1 AbstractFour eye-tracking experiments examined how violations of the Gricean maxim of quantity affect reading. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that first-pass reading times for size-modified definite nouns (the small towel) were longer when the modifier was redundant, as the context contained one rather than two possible referents, whereas first-pass times for bare nouns (the towel) were unaffected by whether the context contained multiple referents that resulted in ambiguity. Experiment 3 showed that unlike redundant size modifiers, redundant color modifiers did not increase first-pass times.Experiment 4 confirmed this finding, demonstrating that the effect of redundancy was dependent on the meaning of the modifier. We propose that initial referential processing is led by the lexicosemantic representation of the referring expression rather than Gricean expectations about optimal informativeness: Redundancy of a size-modifier immediately disrupts comprehension because the processor fails to activate the referential contrast implied by the meaning of the modifier, whereas referential ambiguity has no immediate effect, as it allows the activation of at least one semanticallycompatible referent.

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Section: Violations Of Gricean Maximscontrasting

confidence: 82%

Section: Ambiguity First Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 98%

How do violations of Gricean maxims affect reading?

Fukumura

Gompel

2017

Journal of Memory and Language

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“…Answering this question requires an examination of the literature on contrastive inference (Sedivy et al 1999;Grodner & Sedivy 2011). However, there may be alternative consequences of overinforming than pragmatic implicature, e.g., speeding up a hearer's search for the referent (Mangold & Pobel 1988;Arts 2004Arts , 2011, or reducing the risk of the signal being lost (Shannon & Weaver 1949).…”

Section:  Overspecification: Definitions and Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notably, it was colour which was the overspecified attribute in 98 % of cases of overspecification in Brought to you by | De Gruyter / TCS Authenticated Download Date | 5/9/16 9:58 PM Pechmann's 1989 work. In addition to being central to the creation of a gestalt, colour is high on the perceptibility hierarchy by virtue of quick processing by the visual system (Arts 2004(Arts , 2011, which may lead to quick encoding or lack of attribute suppression in REs. Mangold & Pobel (1988) ran a referential communication task, wherein a target from an array of 24 shapes differing along colour, size and shape dimensions was referred to by speakers.…”

Section:  Perceptual Saliencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The utility (and thus incidence) of this type of overinformativeness may be increased when contexts are complex or otherwise demanding (Paraboni et al 2007), and the cooperative speaker may be motivated to reduce the search space Brought to you by | De Gruyter / TCS Authenticated Download Date | 5/9/16 9:58 PM for the hearer. Arts (2004Arts ( , 2011 found that certain types of overspecification almost consistently led to accelerated resolution, especially attributes concerning the location of an object. Hypothetically, since speakers do not always know which features the listener might notice, an overinformative 'scattergun' approach may increase the likelihood of the target being hit, i.e.…”

Section:  Hearer-oriented Reasons For Overinforming  Facilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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7. Reference and Informativeness as cognitive processes in verbal communication

Davies¹,

Katsos²

2016

Verbal Communication

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Overspecification in reference is the provision of more information than is minimally required for a hearer to identify an intended referent, e.g., 'the stripy bowl' in the context of a single bowl. Since this kind of referring expression is not predicted by traditional accounts of reference, this chapter reviews research documenting the frequency of such expressions in various contexts. Drawing together recent empirical findings, it proposes reasons for overspecified reference from both the speaker's and the addressee's perspective. The pragmatic, cognitive and social significance of overspecification is discussed, and applications of research in this area are considered. We close by suggesting promising future directions for this strand of research.

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Improving Route Directions: The Role of Intersection Type and Visual Clutter for Spatial Reference

Baltaretu

Krahmer

Maes

2015

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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In this study, we ask whether references to paths and landmarks in route directions (RDs) are influenced by environmental complexity, zooming in on two aspects of the visual surroundings, namely intersection structure and visual clutter. Speakers are asked to produce (Experiment 1), understand (Experiment 2) and evaluate (Experiment 3) turn-by-turn RDs in a naturalistic setting (Google Street View panoramic pictures). We find that increased levels of visual clutter and intersections with complex structures trigger more references to landmarks and paths when participants produce RDs, longer decision times to determine what the next correct step in a route is and increased preference for landmarks. Finally, we discuss possible implications for automatic RD generation.

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Overspecification facilitates object identification

Cited by 133 publications

References 34 publications

How do violations of Gricean maxims affect reading?

How do violations of Gricean maxims affect reading?

7. Reference and Informativeness as cognitive processes in verbal communication

Improving Route Directions: The Role of Intersection Type and Visual Clutter for Spatial Reference

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