Transposed-word effects in speeded grammatical decisions to sequences of spoken words

Abstract

We used the grammatical decision task (a speeded version of the grammaticality judgment task) with auditorily presented sequences of five words that could either form a grammatically correct sentence or an ungrammatical sequence. The critical ungrammatical sequences were either formed by transposing two adjacent words in a correct sentence (transposed-word sequences: e.g., “The black was dog big”) or were matched ungrammatical sequences that could not be resolved into a correct sentence by transposing any two words (control sequences: e.g., “The black was dog slowly”). These were intermixed with an equal number of correct sentences for the purpose of the grammatical decision task. Transposed-word sequences were harder to reject as being ungrammatical (longer response times and more errors) relative to the ungrammatical control sequences, hence attesting for the first time that transposed-word effects can be observed in the spoken language version of the grammatical decision task. Given the relatively unambiguous nature of the speech input in terms of word order, we interpret these transposed-word effects as reflecting the constraints imposed by syntax when processing a sequence of spoken words in order to make a speeded grammatical decision.

The transposed word effect is consistent with serial word recognition and varies with reading speed

“…The strong transposed word effect in the sequential mode demonstrates that it is also consistent with models of reading that assume that words are encoded serially at the lexical level (e.g., Reichle, Pollatsek & Rayner, 2006). It is also consistent with a transposed word effect that arises when participants perform a similar task on spoken, rather than written, sentences (Dufour, Mirault & Grainger, 2022). Even if the words are initially encoded in a temporal order that matches the ungrammatical order in which they are presented, a later process of rational inference may "correct" the error in the words that are held in working memory.…”

The transposed-word effect provides no unequivocal evidence for parallel processing

“…Moreover, the stronger effect for progressive versus central serial word presentations raises the possibility that positional uncertainty may be greater when the relative spatial locations of words is preserved. We note that preserving the relative spatial locations of words provides a more naturalistic presentation technique compared to presenting words centrally, which could have contributed to this effect (and for a similar discussion, see Dufour et al, 2022).…”