Exam 8: Understanding Sentence Structure and Meaning

Refer to the figure. The figure represents the N400 values for the sentence The day was breezy so the boy went outside to fly… when subjects heard either airplane or kite as the final word. What can be inferred from the graph?

Refer to the figure. Based on eye movements, which statement about subjects' perceptions of the two sentences is true?

Imagine that you are designing a study to evaluate whether certain types of sentences are ambiguous and lead to misunderstanding. Which technique would permit the most natural environment for your study?

Refer to the example, in which participants read through sentences a phrase at a time, pressing a button to advance from step 1 through 3. 1. The British ---- ------- -- -------- -------. 2. --- ------- left waffles -- -------- -------. 3. --- ------- ---- ------- on Falkland Islands. -The above stimulus is an example of which research method?

Which pair offers the best example of competence and performance, respectively?

Considering the "kindergarten-path effect," if your 4.5-year-old sister was asked to Put the bunny on the blanket on the shelf, what would she do?

Refer to the figure. Based on the results of Kamide et al.'s 2003 study, which images would a participant look at as they hear The beer was drunk by…? How does this outcome help us understand the time course of sentence parsing and how various sources of information are integrated?

How does the garden path theory explain our ability to parse and interpret sentences that contain ambiguities, such as The patient accepted the prognosis was dire?

The _______ is an experimental method, developed by Daneman and Carpenter (1980), in which a subject's verbal working memory is measured.

Consider the results of Trueswell and Kim's 1998 study of syntactic framing in which subjects were asked to complete a self-paced reading task on sentences containing ambiguities. Did the researchers demonstrate that it is possible to affect a person's ability to disambiguate garden path sentences without that person having conscious access to disambiguating information? Explain.

Carolina is a 64-year-old woman who grew up in a Spanish-speaking family but has always lived in an English-speaking neighborhood. In her current job, she deals with both English- and Spanish-speaking clients on a daily basis. Frank is a 33-year-old man who spoke only English until college, when he learned Italian. He doesn't have much opportunity to speak Italian with friends or colleagues, but he enjoys reading challenging books in Italian. Would Carolina or Frank be more likely to show enhanced cognitive control compared to her/his monolingual peers? Base your answer on current explanations for the effect of bilingualism on cognitive control.

Consider these two sentences: 1. The lawyer who the judge addressed stood. 2. The lawyer who addressed the judge stood. -Based on the work of Ted Gibson (1998), which of these sentences will be more difficult to read, and why?

According to Just and Carpenter (1992), subjects who score poorly on the reading span test should

What is one of the major differences between garden path and constraint-based theories of sentence parsing?

Consider the sentences. The man led to the bench had a walking stick. The man sat on the bench had a walking stick. How does the constraint-based approach account for the parsing of these garden path sentences? Based on this approach, how would it affect your reading of the sentences to know that the man had dementia?

In the sentence The cruel man beat his puppy with a thick stick, _______ is the subject.

Consider these two sentences: 1. The lawyer who the judge addressed stood. 2. The lawyer who addressed the judge stood. -Some researchers believe sentence 2 will be easier to read than sentence 1 because readers more frequently encounter the type of structure found in sentence 2. This expectation stresses the role of _______ in comprehension.

Which sentence contains an intransitive verb?

The garden path theory stipulates that parsers rely on _______ to make initial predictions about the meaning of an ambiguous sentence.

Refer to the figure. According to Kamide et al.'s 2003 study, where would subjects look as they heard The beer was drunk by…?