Work

The interaction of different working memory mechanisms and sentence processing: A study of the P600

Year: 2013

Type: article

Abstract: While previous research has shown that working memory capacity (WMC) predicts sentence processing ability, the understanding of the relationship is limited as almost all studies have used the reading span task as their sole measure of WMC.The current study examined how the effects of garden-path sentences and filler-gap dependencies (as indexed by the P600) related to four measures of working memory (reading span, operation span, anti-saccade and n-back).P600 effects for garden-path sentences correlated positively with operation span score while effects for object relatives correlated negatively with n-back accuracy.These results indicate that, though both sentence types are associated with increased working memory demands, the resolution of temporary syntactic ambiguity and filler-gap dependencies recruit distinct working memory mechanisms.

Source: eScholarship (California Digital Library)

Author: Polly O’Rourke

Institution: University of Maryland, College Park

Language: English

Topic: Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Graduate School, University of Maryland, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

OpenAlex ID: W2402988932

FWCI: 0.149

Cites: 26

Cited by: 3

Related to: 10