An eye-tracking investigation into the role of contextual biases in the resolution of attachment ambiguities

Dempsey, Jack

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115360 Copy

Description

Title

An eye-tracking investigation into the role of contextual biases in the resolution of attachment ambiguities

Author(s)

Dempsey, Jack

Issue Date

2022-04-01

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Christianson, Kiel

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Christianson, Kiel

Committee Member(s)

• Federmeier, Kara
• Montag, Jessica
• Xia, Yan

Department of Study

Educational Psychology

Discipline

Educational Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• discourse processing
• sentence processing
• reading

Abstract

Previous work in sentence processing has largely ignored influences from discourse-level information. Of the few exceptions to this trend, evidence is scarce as to how, when, and to what extent such information affects parsing decisions in real-time. The current dissertation seeks to fill this gap in the literature by first attempting to replicate an experiment ostensibly showing strongly dynamic and predictive influences on parsing behaviors, and then investigating the time course of any such influences during the reading of temporarily ambiguous attachment structures following discourses with biases for or against their eventual attachment. Experiment 1 revealed a failure to replicate the original finding, suggesting discourse-level information is not readily available for initial processing of unambiguous structures. Eye-tracking data from Experiment 2 revealed a pattern consistent with an account where readers first perform an algorithmic parse devoid of discourse-level biases and then check the resultant representation against the current discourse-model. Individual differences may also affect the extent to this later, integrative influence. Findings are considered in relation to major theories of sentence and discourse processing.

Graduation Semester

2022-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Jack Dempsey

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