Abstract
This report summarizes the results of an experiment in which Ss read for immediate recall sentences which either were meaningful or were constructed to be anomalous in particular ways. Three types of sentences were used: equational, transitive, and intransitive. There were also three types of anomalies involving an anomaly either in the subject phrase of the sentence, in the predicate phrase, or in the relationship between the subject and predicate phrase. From the results, equational sentences can be processed most easily. For all types of sentences, the presence of an anomaly has a disruptive effect in that time to process a sentence is increased. However, the effect of a particular type of anomaly appears to be a function of the type of sentence in which it occurs. A possible explanation for these findings, emphasizing the use and verification of the selectional restrictions associated with each sentence, was advanced.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.