The Influence of only on Syntactic processing of “Long” Relative Clause Sentences

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon P. Liversedge ◽  
Kevin B. Paterson ◽  
Emma L. Clayes
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Initial Processing

We report an eye movement experiment investigating the influence of the focus operator only on syntactic processing of “long” relative clause sentences. Paterson, Liversedge, and Underwood (1999) found that readers were garden pathed by “short” reduced relative clause sentences containing the focus operator only. They argued that due to thematic differences between “short” and “long” relative clause sentences, garden path effect might not occur when “long” reduced relative clause sentences are read. Eye-tracking data show that garden path effects found during initial processing of the disambiguating verb of “long” reduced sentences without only were absent or delayed in the case of counterparts with only. We discuss our results in terms of current theories of sentence processing.

scholarly journals Children do not overcome lexical biases where adults do: the role of the referential scene in garden-path recovery

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 222-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
EVAN KIDD ◽  
ANDREW J. STEWART ◽  
LUDOVICA SERRATRICE
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Test Sentence ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Initial Analysis ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Scene Information ◽  
Lexical Cues

ABSTRACTIn this paper we report on a visual world eye-tracking experiment that investigated the differing abilities of adults and children to use referential scene information during reanalysis to overcome lexical biases during sentence processing. The results showed that adults incorporated aspects of the referential scene into their parse as soon as it became apparent that a test sentence was syntactically ambiguous, suggesting they considered the two alternative analyses in parallel. In contrast, the children appeared not to reanalyze their initial analysis, even over shorter distances than have been investigated in prior research. We argue that this reflects the children's over-reliance on bottom-up, lexical cues to interpretation. The implications for the development of parsing routines are discussed.

scholarly journals Predicting Spatial Visualization Problems’ Difficulty Level from Eye-Tracking Data

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1949
Author(s):  
Xiang Li ◽  
Rabih Younes ◽  
Diana Bairaktarova ◽  
Qi Guo
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Spatial Visualization ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The Difference

The difficulty level of learning tasks is a concern that often needs to be considered in the teaching process. Teachers usually dynamically adjust the difficulty of exercises according to the prior knowledge and abilities of students to achieve better teaching results. In e-learning, because there is no teacher involvement, it often happens that the difficulty of the tasks is beyond the ability of the students. In attempts to solve this problem, several researchers investigated the problem-solving process by using eye-tracking data. However, although most e-learning exercises use the form of filling in blanks and choosing questions, in previous works, research focused on building cognitive models from eye-tracking data collected from flexible problem forms, which may lead to impractical results. In this paper, we build models to predict the difficulty level of spatial visualization problems from eye-tracking data collected from multiple-choice questions. We use eye-tracking and machine learning to investigate (1) the difference of eye movement among questions from different difficulty levels and (2) the possibility of predicting the difficulty level of problems from eye-tracking data. Our models resulted in an average accuracy of 87.60% on eye-tracking data of questions that the classifier has seen before and an average of 72.87% on questions that the classifier has not yet seen. The results confirmed that eye movement, especially fixation duration, contains essential information on the difficulty of the questions and it is sufficient to build machine-learning-based models to predict difficulty level.

scholarly journals Repair, Revision, and Complexity in Syntactic Analysis: An Electrophysiological Differentiation

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Kaan ◽  
Tamara Y. Swaab
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Ambiguous Sentence ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Different Characteristics ◽  
Human Sentence Processing ◽  
Electrophysiological Differentiation

One of the core aspects of human sentence processing is the ability to detect errors and to recover from erroneous analysis through revision of ambiguous sentences and repair of ungrammatical sentences. In the present study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to help identify the nature of these processes by directly comparing ERPs to complex ambiguous sentence structures with and without grammatical violations, and to simpler unambiguous sentence structures with and without grammatical violations. In ambiguous sentences, preference of syntactic analysis was manipulated such that in one condition, the structures agreed with the preferred analysis, and in another condition, a nonpreferred but syntactically correct analysis (garden path) was imposed. Nonpreferred ambiguous structures require revision, whereas ungrammatical structures require repair. We found that distinct ERPs reflected different characteristics of syntactic processing. Specifically, our results are consistent with the idea that a positivity with a posterior distribution across the scalp (posterior P600) is an index of syntactic processing difficulty, including repair and revision, and that a frontally distributed positivity (frontal P600) is related to ambiguity resolution and/ or to an increase in discourse level complexity.

scholarly journals TO THE QUESTION OF PECULIARITIES OF EYE MOVEMENT ANALYSIS IN THE PROCESS OF FACE PERCEPTION

2021 ◽  
pp. 196-219
Author(s):  
Galina Ya. Menshikova ◽  
Anna O. Pichugina
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Dwell Time ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Individual Strategies ◽  
Areas Of Interest

Background. The article is devoted to the study of the mechanisms of face perception when using the technology of eye-tracking. In the scientific literature, two processes are distinguished - analytical (perception of individual facial features) and holistic (perception of a general configuration of facial features). It is assumed that each of the mechanisms can be specifically manifested in patterns of eye movements during face perception. However, there is disagreement among the authors concerning the eye movements patterns which reflect the dominance of the holistic or analytic processing. We hypothesized that the contradictions in the interpretation of eye movement indicators in the studies of face perception may be associated with the features of the eye-tracker data processing, namely, with the specifics of identifying areas of interest (eyes, nose, bridge of the nose, lips), as well as with individual strategies of eye movements. Objective. Revealing the features of eye movements analysis in the process of facial perception. Method. A method for studying analytical and holistic processing in the task of assessing the attractiveness of upright and inverted faces using eye-tracking technology has been developed and tested. The eye-tracking data were analyzed for the entire sample using three types of processing, differing in the marking of the areas of interest (AOIs), and separately for two groups differing in eye movement strategies. The distinction of strategies was considered based on differences in the mean values of the fixation duration and the amplitude of saccades. Results. It was shown that: the presence of statistically significant differences of the dwell time in the AOIs between the condition of upright and inverted faces depended on the method of identifying these AOIs. It was shown that the distribution of the dwell time by zones is closely related to individual strategies of eye movements. Analysis of the data separately by groups showed significant differences in the distribution of the dwell time in the AOIs. Conclusion. When processing eye-tracking data obtained in the studies of face perception, it is necessary to consider individual strategies of eye movements, as well as the features associated with identifying AOIs. The absence of a single standard for identifying these areas can be the reason for inconsistency of the data about the holistic or analytical processing dominance. According to our data, the most effective for the analysis of holistic processing is a more detailed type of marking the AOIs, in which not only the main features (eyes, nose, mouth) are distinguished, but also the area of the nose bridge and nose.

Processing Relative Clauses in Chinese: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun Xiaoxia ◽  
Roeland Hancock ◽  
Thomas G. Bever ◽  
Cheng Xiaoguang ◽  
Lüder Schmidt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Complex Structures ◽  
Comprehensive Model ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Significant Interest ◽  
Related Potentials

AbstractThe Interpretation of Chinese relative clauses has become of significant interest in sentence processing research, since some studies found that Chinese comprehension patterns violate the well-known universal subject relatives preference proposed by NAPH theory and proved by cross-linguistic studies. The current study uses the neuropsychological measure of ERP. It supports such a language-specific phenomenon, with the results showing that both subject-and object-modifying subject relatives eliciting larger ERP components than object relatives. The results suggest that object relatives are easier to process than subject relatives at both modifying positions, challenging the claim of universal subject preference for all languages. In addition, this study casts doubts on CWO and working memory-based DLT models despite results being compatible with them, and concludes that none of the current models are comprehensive enough to account for the data. Finally, this study offers a piece of evidence for the garden path effect caused by the surface NVN word order in the Chinese relative clause. All in all, this study adds to the evidence that processing preference is not universal. It contributes to a comprehensive model of how complex structures are processed.

Syntactic ambiguity resolution and revision processes in complement sentences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Syntactic Ambiguity ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Correct Analysis ◽  
Syntactic Information ◽  
Contradictory Evidence ◽  
Processing Heuristic

Temporarily ambiguous sentences are sometimes misanalysed and require revision during sentence processing. Previous studies have reported that non-syntactic information such as verb subcategorisation information does not always prevent misanalysis. However, there is contradictory evidence about whether non-syntactic information is immediately used to recover the globally correct analysis. Previous studies have also reported that initially assigned misinterpretations linger after disambiguation. Some recent studies have suggested that this lingering misinterpretation does not result from a failure to conduct syntactic revision. However, the current evidence for syntactic revision is scarce, limited to a syntactic structure and eye-movement while reading task, and crucially does not necessarily prove that syntactic revision is successfully conducted. The present study reports three self-paced reading experiments that investigate these issues, using temporarily ambiguous complement sentences. Experiment 1 showed that temporarily ambiguous complement sentences are misanalysed during sentence processing, which subsequently causes garden-path effects and lingering misinterpretation. Experiment 2 suggested that non-syntactic information is immediately used to recover the globally correct analysis. However, there was an indication that the incorrect analysis remains activated. Experiment 3 revealed that syntactic revision is conducted in complement sentences without regressive eye movements. The present study argues that the good-enough account can explain these results if this account assumes that a syntactic processing heuristic such as the Canonical Sentoid Strategy is used during the processing of temporarily ambiguous complement sentences.

scholarly journals Characterizing gaze position signals and synthesizing noise during fixations in eye-tracking data

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 2515-2534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diederick C. Niehorster ◽  
Raimondas Zemblys ◽  
Tanya Beelders ◽  
Kenneth Holmqvist
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Movement Analysis ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Eye Tracker ◽  
Eye Movement Analysis ◽  
Analysis Methods ◽  
Signal Type ◽  
Gaze Position

AbstractThe magnitude of variation in the gaze position signals recorded by an eye tracker, also known as its precision, is an important aspect of an eye tracker’s data quality. However, data quality of eye-tracking signals is still poorly understood. In this paper, we therefore investigate the following: (1) How do the various available measures characterizing eye-tracking data during fixation relate to each other? (2) How are they influenced by signal type? (3) What type of noise should be used to augment eye-tracking data when evaluating eye-movement analysis methods? To support our analysis, this paper presents new measures to characterize signal type and signal magnitude based on RMS-S2S and STD, two established measures of precision. Simulations are performed to investigate how each of these measures depends on the number of gaze position samples over which they are calculated, and to reveal how RMS-S2S and STD relate to each other and to measures characterizing the temporal spectrum composition of the recorded gaze position signal. Further empirical investigations were performed using gaze position data recorded with five eye trackers from human and artificial eyes. We found that although the examined eye trackers produce gaze position signals with different characteristics, the relations between precision measures derived from simulations are borne out by the data. We furthermore conclude that data with a range of signal type values should be used to assess the robustness of eye-movement analysis methods. We present a method for generating artificial eye-tracker noise of any signal type and magnitude.

scholarly journals Thematic Integration Impairments in Primary Progressive Aphasia: Evidence From Eye-Tracking

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Walenski ◽  
Jennifer E. Mack ◽  
M. Marsel Mesulam ◽  
Cynthia K. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Movement Patterns ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Structure Building ◽  
Object Relative

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a degenerative disease affecting language while leaving other cognitive facilities relatively unscathed. The agrammatic subtype of PPA (PPA-G) is characterized by agrammatic language production with impaired comprehension of noncanonical filler-gap syntactic structures, such as object-relatives [e.g., The sandwich that the girl ate (gap) was tasty], in which the filler (the sandwich) is displaced from the object position within the relative clause to a position preceding both the verb and the agent (the girl) and is replaced by a gap linked with the filler. One hypothesis suggests that the observed deficits of these structures reflect impaired thematic integration, including impaired prediction of the thematic role of the filler and impaired thematic integration at the gap, but spared structure building (i.e., creation of the gap). In the current study, we examined the on-line comprehension of object-relative and subject-relative clauses in healthy controls and individuals with agrammatic and logopenic PPA using eye-tracking. Eye-movement patterns in canonical subject-relative clause structures were essentially spared in both PPA groups. In contrast, eye-movement patterns in noncanonical object-relative clauses revealed delayed thematic prediction in both agrammatic and logopenic PPA, on-time structure building (i.e., gap-filling) in both groups, and abnormal thematic integration in agrammatic, but not logopenic, PPA. We argue that these results are consistent with the hypothesis that agrammatic comprehension deficits reflect impaired thematic integration.

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