On-Line Probe Recognition Latencies Within Complex Sentences

Abstract

The notion was tested that sentence perception involves holding single clauses or propositions in a temporary buffer. Subjects were visually presented, one word at a time, with two-clause sentences in which each clause expressed a complete proposition. At an unexpected point in the second clause, the sentence was interrupted, a probe word was presented, and subjects were to respond quickly whether the probe word had appeared previously in the sentence. In sentences comprised of coordinate clauses, response times did not differ between probes that had appeared previously in the first clause and those that had appeared in the second clause. This is contrary to earlier work, in which the probe was presented following a complete sentence, that found faster response time for a probe that had appeared in the second clause. It is concluded that single clauses or propositions are not held in any temporary buffer during processing of a sentence but that more recently presented or important material may become more accessible in memory as presentation of the sentence proceeds. Surprising results for sentences containing complement and relative clauses suggest, however, that the sentence processor itself does treat clauses or propositions as distinct entities.