Expectations modulate retrieval interference during ellipsis resolution.
Neuropsychologia
; 190: 108680, 2023 Nov 05.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37739260
ABSTRACT
Memory operations during language comprehension are subject to interference retrieval is harder when items are linguistically similar to each other. We test how such interference effects might be modulated by linguistic expectations. Theories differ in how these factors might interact; we consider three possibilities (i) predictability determines the need for retrieval, (ii) predictability affects cue-preference during retrieval, or (iii) word predictability moderates the effect of noise in memory during retrieval. We first demonstrate that expectations for a target word modulate retrieval interference in Mandarin noun-phrase ellipsis in an electroencephalography (EEG) experiment. This result obtains in globally ungrammatical sentences - termed "facilitatory interference." Such a pattern is inconsistent with theories that focus only on the need for retrieval. To tease apart cue-preferences from noisy-memory representations, we operationalize the latter using a Transformer neural network language model. Confronting the model with our stimuli reveals an interference effect, consistent with prior work, but that effect does not interact with predictability in contrast to human EEG results. Together, these data are most consistent with the hypothesis that the predictability of target items affects cue-preferences during retrieval.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Comprensión
/
Potenciales Evocados
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Neuropsychologia
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article