Experimental Psycholinguistics,
Madrid, 1-3 October 2014
Print exposure and memory
effects on pronominal resolution
Fleva, E.1, Fotiadou, G.1, Katsiperi, M.1, Peristeri, E.1,
Mastropavlou, M.2 & Tsimpli, I. M.1, 3
1Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Language Development Lab
2University of Ioannina (Greece)
3University of Reading (UK), School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences
EXCELLENCE I
IDAR Project
Aims
• to examine the vulnerability of anaphora
resolution in adult monolingual native speakers
as a function of individual differences in:
• Memory abilities
(working memory and episodic memory)
• Language experience
(print exposure and education)
• Age
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid, 1-3
October 2014
Anaphora Resolution
• Anaphora resolution (AR) is a linguistic
phenomenon which describes the process of
identifying the referent of anaphoric
expressions into the context.
• AR is computed in syntax and at the interface
with discourse (Tsimpli, et al. 2004; White 2008 a.o.).
• Recent research identified both linguistic and
cognitive factors conditioning AR (Hendriks et al., 2014;
van Rij et al., 2013).
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
Overt vs. Null pronoun resolution
• Greek is a Null Subject Language (NSL)
• Ambiguity in antecedent preference:
(1) O Kostasi xheretise ton Giannik otan proi /aftosk ton
plisiase.
the Kostas waved at the John when pro / he him
approached
(Papadopoulou et al. in press; but Tsimpli et al. 2004)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
Previous studies: Age effects on AR
 Older adults are less strategic in encoding /
retrieving the most important information from
discourse
 and overuse ambiguous pronouns
BUT
 have no problems disambiguating a pronoun on the
basis of information presented in an immediately
preceding sentence
(Hendriks et al., 2014; Light & Capps, 1986; Titone, Prentice, & Wingfield,
2000 a.o.)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
•Cognitive Abilities
•Language Experience
Internal
Factors
Age
Anaphora
Resolution
Discourse
Effects
Linguistic
Factors
•Linguistic Form
(overt /∅)
•Syntactic Complexity
(Word Order)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
Language experience
• may lead to variability in sentence
comprehension performance.
how do we measure language experience?
• print exposure (Stanovich & West 1989)
• education level (Dabrowska 1997; Dabrowska & Street 2006)
Familiarity with print is positively correlated
with better word recognition abilities (Chateau
& Jared, 2000; Fotiadou et al. 2014)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
Research Questions and Predictions
• Age, Print exposure and Cognitive measures of
memory will affect pronominal resolution
• Linguistic properties: Word-order and Context
will affect pronominal resolution in all
participants
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
Participants
Materials & Procedure
METHODOLOGY
Independent variables:
Age & Education
Male and female monolingual Greek speaking adults
(N= 40, M= 40.7; Age range: 18-75)
N of participants
Distribution of Participants' Age
6
4
2
0
18
20
21
23
25
26
28
29
31
32
33
34
35
37
38
41
42
50
52
54
Participants' Educational Level (%)
60%
55,0%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
15%
12,5%
10%
5%
2,5%
0%
School
Post-high
School
College
University
Master
PhD
57
61
63
69
71
72
73
75
 Backwards digit recall task (Alloway, 2007)
 To assess verbal working memory: Oral presentation of series
of numbers with gradient difficulty
 Immediate and delayed recall story task (Rivermead:
adapted for Greek by Efklides et al., 2002)
 To assess episodic memory: Oral presentation of a story with
21 ideas. Participant’s performance is scored according to the
number of ideas repeated.
Language Experience
 Author and Magazine Recognition Tests (Fotiadou et al.,
2014; modelled after Stanovich and West, 1989)
 Education levels (questionnaire)
Results:
Rivermead
WM (%)
35%
20
30%
15
25%
20%
10
15%
10%
5
5%
0%
L3
L4
L5
L6
0
L7
ART-MRT scores (Mean)
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
ART
MRT
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
tell
retell
Word-order (topicality)
& context effects
Topicality & word order
 the first out of two or more entities in a sentence – often the
grammatical subject and the continuing discourse topic – is
the most salient one in the preceding discourse
(Ariel’s accessibility theory 1998; 1990; Arnold et al. 2000; Reinhart 1981)
Context
 contextual information prior to the target sentence helps
resolution in comparison with isolated sentences
(eg. van Berkum, Brown & Hagoort ,1999: ERP findings)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
Linguistic tasks
self-paced listening antecedent identification
sentence-picture matching task
(E-prime: Schneider et al., 2002)
 The effect of Word Order : SVO (unmarked) vs. OVS (marked)
sentences in null (Condition 1) OR overt (Condition 2) pronouns
 The effect of a preceding context with or without explicit
reference to the actors: SVO sentences in null (Condition 1) OR
overt (Condition 2) pronouns
The SPL experiments described include:
• 10 experimental items per condition
• 20 filler sentences
• 5 practice sentences
Duration: 10-20 min approx.
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
WORD ORDER
Other
Referent
Subject
Referent
Object
Referent
CONDITION 1
a. The old lady -NOM / waved at/ the pupil -ACC / when / she / was crossing/ the street.
b. The pupil -ACC/ her –Cl waved at / the old lady -NOM/ when / she / was crossing/ the street.
CONDITION 2
a. The old lady -NOM / waved at/ the pupil -ACC / when / Ø already/ was crossing/ the street.
b. The pupil -ACC/ her –Cl waved at / the old lady -NOM / when /Ø already/ was crossing/ the street.
Who was crossing the street?
Subject
Referent
(a)
Other
Referent
Object
Referent
Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina FEM got angry and
splashed the singer FEM.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very
angry.
CONDITION 1: The ballerina FEM/ approached / the singer FEM / when / she / was entering / the
stage.
CONDITION 2 : The ballerina FEM/ approached / the singer FEM / when / Ø slowly/ was entering/
the stage.
Who was entering the stage?
Various combinations of pictorial stimuli
Various syntactic structures in the sentences used
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
The Analyses

3 measures in the self-paced listening referentmatching task

online listening times (in msecs) per segment

offline RTs (in msecs) on matching decisions

Preferred referent (%)
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
Word Order
svoaftos
oclovsaftos
2500
• Aftos Pronoun
*
2000
1500
1000
*
*
500
0
The old ladyNOM
The pupilACC
waved at
herCl waved at
the pupil ACC
the old ladyNOM
when
she
was crossing
the street
• Null Pronoun
svonull
oclvsnull
2500
2000
1500
*
1000
500
0
The old ladyNOM
The pupilACC
waved at
herCl waved at
the pupil ACC
the old ladyNOM
when
∅ already
was crossing
the street
Context
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina FEM got angry and splashed
the singer FEM.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very
angry.
• Aftos Pronoun
2000
*
1500
*
1000
500
The ballerina
approached
the singer
when
she
was entering
the stage
• Null Pronoun
Integration of known information  slow down
2000
*
1500
*
1000
500
The ballerina
approached
the singer
when
∅ already
was entering
the stage
RESPONSE LATENCIES
PREFERRED REFERENTS
Word Order - Overt Pronoun
Reference
Word Order - Null Pronoun
Reference
100
100
80
80
60
Subject
60
Subject
40
Object
40
Object
other
20
0
other
20
0
svo_aftos
oclvs_aftos
svo_null
aftos
4600
4400
4200
4000
3800
3600
3400
3200
3000
∅
*
svo_aftos
oclvs_null
oclvs_aftos
4600
4400
4200
4000
3800
3600
3400
3200
3000
svo_null
Word order markedness Overt P
oclvs_null
Word Order - Overt Pronoun
Reference
Word Order - Null Pronoun
Reference
100
100
80
80
60
Subject
60
Subject
40
Object
40
Object
other
20
other
20
0
0
svo_aftos
oclvs_aftos
svo_null
WM
r=-.443;
p=.004
oclvs_null
WM
r=.560;
p=.002
Episodic
Lang.exp.
r=-.406;
p=.011
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
(immediate & delayed)
r=.389; p=.041 &
r=.458; p=.014
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina got angry and splashed the singer.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very angry.
Context - Overt Pronoun
Reference
Context - Null Pronoun
Reference
50
50
40
*
*
40
30
*
Subject 30
Subject
Object
20
Other
10
Object
20
Other
10
0
a_aftos
0
b_aftos
a_null
b_null
∅
aftos
3500
3500
3300
3300
3100
3100
2900
2900
2700
2700
2500
2500
a_aftos
b_aftos
a_null
No reference  slower Response
b_null
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina got angry and splashed the singer.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very angry.
Context - Overt Pronoun
Reference
Context - Null Pronoun
Reference
50
50
40
40
30
Subject 30
Subject
Object
Object
20
20
Other
10
Other
10
0
0
a_aftos
b_aftos
a_null
Correlation with AGE:
r=-.322;
p=.046
r=.402;
p=.011
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
b_null
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina got angry and splashed the singer.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very angry.
Context - Overt Pronoun
Reference
Context - Null Pronoun
Reference
50
50
40
40
30
Subject 30
Subject
Object
Object
20
20
Other
10
Other
10
0
0
a_aftos
b_aftos
a_null
Lang. Experience
(ART)
r=-.376;
p=.018
r=-.320;
p=.047
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
b_null
(a) Because the show was not going well, during the break a ballerina got angry and splashed the singer.
(b) Because the show was not going well, during the break the members of the group got very angry.
Context - Overt Pronoun
Reference
Context - Null Pronoun
Reference
50
50
40
40
30
Subject 30
Subject
Object
Object
20
20
Other
10
Other
10
0
0
a_aftos
b_aftos
a_null
Episodic M
r=-.436;
p=.033
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
b_null
Educ. Level:
r=-.441;
p=.031
Summary and Conclusions
• Linguistic properties :
a. Word-order affected antecedent preference and RTs in
the overt pronoun conditions only
b. Context affects pronominal resolution in the overt
condition (more subject antecedent in the +repeated NP
condition)
Age effects in the neutral context: older participants
selected ‘other’ referent more than object in the overt
pronoun condition
Language experience affects antecedent preference in the
overt pronoun condition (more language experience
increases ambiguity in the subject/object antecedent
preference)
Memory ability: Lower scores in episodic memory task 
more selection of ‘other’ referent in neutral context
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
Overall,
• Context : Pronominal resolution shows effects of
‘internal factors’ (age, language experience and
episodic memory) in selected conditions only
and primarily with overt pronouns
• This is consistent with work on attrition and
second language learners showing that overt
pronouns in NSL are affected
• Word-order : Memory and language experience
affects the degree of overriding the default
subject antecedent preference in the null
pronoun condition
Experimental Psycholinguistics, Madrid,
1-3 October 2014
Selected References
Alloway, T.P. (2007). Automated Working Memory Assessment. London, UK: Harcourt Assessment
Arnold, J. E., Brown-Schmidt, S., & Trueswell, J. (2007). Children’s use of gender and order of mention during pronoun comprehension.
Language and Cognitive Processes, 22, 527-565.
Van Berkum, J. J. A., Brown, C. M., & Hagoort, P. (1999). Early referential context effects in sentence processing: Evidence from event-related
brain potentials. Journal of Memory and Language, 47, 147–182.
Carminati, M. (2002). The Processing of Italian Subject Pronouns. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Chateau, D., & Jared, D. (2000). Exposure to print and word recognition processes. Memory and Cognition, 28, 143–153.
Corbett, A. T., & Chang, F. R. (1983). Pronoun disambiguation: Accessing potential antecedents. Memory & Cognition, 11, 283- 294.
Dimitriades, A. (1996). When Pro-Drop languages don’t: overt pronominal subjects and pragmatic inference. In: Dobrin, L.M., Singer, K. &
L.McNair (eds.) CLS 32: The Main Session, 33-47.
Dwivedi, V., & Goldhawk, M. (2009). Underspecification of scope ambiguity and anaphora: Evidence from self-paced reading. Poster
presentation for the 22nd annual meeting of the CUNY Sentence Processing Conference, University of California, Davis, USA.
Fotiadou, G., Fleva, E., Katsiperi, M. & Tsimpli, I. M. (2014). Exploring the effects of print exposure on lexical processing among Greek adults. In
Proceedings of the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT), Porto, Portugal., 310-312.
Efklides, A., Yiultsi, E., Kangellidou, T., Kounti, F., Dina, F., & Tsolaki, M. (2002). Wechsler Memory Scale, Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test,
and Everyday Memory Questionnaire in Healthy Adults and Alzheimer Patients. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 18(1),
Page 63-77
Hendriks, P., Koster, C., Hoeks, J. (2014). Referential choice across the lifespan: Why children and elderly adults produce ambiguous pronouns.
Language and Cognitive Processes
Kaltsa, M. Tsimpli, I.M., Rothman, J. (in press) Exploring the source of differences and similarities in L1 attrition and heritage speaker
competence: evidence from pronominal resolution. Lingua
Miltsakaki, E. (2003). The Syntax-Discourse Interface: Effects of the Main-Subordinate Distinction on Attention Structure. PhD dissertation,
University of Pennsylvania.
Myers, J. L., & O’Brien, E. J. (1998). Accessing the discourse representations during reading. Discourse Processes, 26, 131-157.
Nieuwland, M. S., & Van Berkum, J. J. A. (2006). When peanuts fall in love: N400 evidence for the power of discourse. Journal of Cognitive
Neuroscience, 18(7), 1098-1111.
Papadopoulou, D. Peristeri, E., Plemmenou, L., Marinis, T., Tsimpli, I.M. (in press) Pronoun ambiguity resolution: Evidence from monolingual
adults and children. Lingua
Tsimpli, I.M., Sorace, A., Heycock, C. & Filiaci, F. (2004). First Language Attrition and Syntactic Subjects: A Study of Greek and Italian Near-Native
Speakers of English. International Journal of Bilingualism, 8, 257-277
van Rij J., van Rij, H., Hendriks, P. (2013). How WM load influences linguistic processing in adults: a computational model of pronoun
interpretation in discourse. Topics in Cognitive Science, 5, 564–580
Special thanks to the participants
&
Thank you
for your attention!
This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund
– ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program "Education and
Lifelong Learning" of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)