Effect of Plausibility on Analysis of Garden Paths A Gaze-Tracking Study

Research on the cognitive science of sentence processing has been driven heavily by the study of resolution of syntactic ambiguity in Garden Path sentences. Recent work has shown that apart from syntax, semantics is another essential component that affects the analysis of sentences. In this study, we analyze the role of semantic plausibility in resolution of syntactically ambiguous Garden Path Sentences. Theory of Incremental Evaluation • Sentences processed sequentially, most ’probable’ parse tree selected at every word. • Probability predominantly defined by the syntactical role of words, rather than semantic meaning. Garden Path sentences: The most likely parse in incremental evaluation will be incorrect. → The criminal confessed his sins which upset kids harmed too many people. →As the woman edited the magazine about fishing amused all the reporters. Impossible to parse sentences! Proposed Theory [Pickering and Traxler, 1998] ♦ Syntactic role of elements in a sentence predominantly controls its parsing, BUT semantic plausibility of the parse defines the extent of attachment towards the sentence. ♦Greater semantic plausibility of inital parse → Greater attachment → Larger time in reanalysis → ↑ Regressions, ↑ First pass time