Grammatical Illusions and Selective Fallibility in Real-time Language Comprehension

Grammatical constraints impose diverse requirements on the relations between words and phrases in a sentence. Research on the online implementation of grammatical constraints reveals a strikingly uneven profile. The parser shows impressive accuracy in the application of some rather complex constraints, but makes many errors in the implementation of some relatively simple constraints. Just as the study of optical illusions has played an important role in the study of visual perception, the parser’s highly selective vulnerability to interference and ‘‘grammatical illusions’’ provides a valuable tool for understanding how speakers encode and navigate complex linguistic representations in real time. Experiments at the Interfaces Syntax and Semantics, Volume 37 Copyright r 2011 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 0092-4563/doi:10.1108/S0092-4563(2011)0000037009