Retrieval mechanisms in sentence comprehension

Abstract

This work investigates the nature of the memory mechanisms utilized in language comprehension. Through the use of the Speed Accuracy Tradeoff (SAT) paradigm (Wickelgren, 1977), healthy young adults were studied for the use of parallel or serial search mechanisms to understand syntactically complex sentences with multiple embeddings. Systematically designed sentence stimuli tested whether the relevant memory mechanism differs when reanalysis is required. Results indicated that sentence length and syntactic ambiguity affected overall accuracy of sentence comprehension. The rate in which information was retrieved did not vary for most sentence types, but may have been affected by length in one type of sentence (ambiguous "early closure" sentences). The data support a parallel, content-addressable retrieval mechanism for information in most sentences but may provide evidence for serial search in ambiguous sentences that require complex syntactic reanalysis.