Introduction The click-detection paradigm has been ...

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evaluate the strong perceptual factor unearthed in the previous experiment in two different ways. First, click positions were shifted to the end of internal phrases ...
a revisit to the click-detection paradigm David J. Lobina, José E. García-Albea & Josep Demestre CRAMC/Department of Psychology Universitat Rovira i Virgili Tarragona, Spain

Introduction The click-detection paradigm has been employed to probe the cognitive load exerted by the parser at various loci within a sentence. In now classic results, Abrams & Bever (1969) employed this technique to show that RTs to clicks placed at the end of major clauses within complex sentences are greater than at other positions, as shown below (where the | symbol marks the three possible click positions and RTs appear within brackets): In addition to his wi|ves, | th|e prince brought the court’s only dwarf (243 ms.; 230; 216) Here, we evaluate the load of the parser at the beginning and at the end of internal phrases of much simpler sentences, drawing attention to the possibility that purely perceptual factors may be playing a greater role in accounting for subjects’ performance patterns than heretofore recognised.

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References Abrams, K. & Bever, T. G. (1969). Syntactic structure modifies attention during speech perception and recognition. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 21, 280-290. Acknowledgements The research presented here was funded, at least in part, by three AGAUR grants (2010BE00618, 2010FI B2-00013, 2009SGR-401), and a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education (SEJ2006-11955).

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1 Click detection at the beginning of phrases 60 pairs of mono-clausal Spanish sentences composed of high frequency words and with a total length of 20 syllables were employed. Type A sentences exhibited an extended NP in the subject position, and Type B in the object position. Three different click locations (1-2-3) were established: Type A. El candidato del pa|rtido se pre|paró el pró|ximo discurso ‘The party’s candidate prepared the next speech’ Type B. El candidato ha pre|parado un di|scurso sobr|e la sanidad ‘The candidate has prepared a speech about the health service’ 60 subjects listened to 132 sentences (12 practice, 60 experimental, 60 fillers), and were instructed to press a button as soon as they heard the superimposed, 25 ms. long, 1000Hz tone. Results: A1=340; A2=290; A3=283; B1=335; B2=296; B3=291. An ANOVA showed that the Position factor was significant for both the subjects and items analyses (p1). Sub-Analyses: Given the significance of the Position factor, we decided to treat it as a simple effect. Pair comparisons show that the differences in RTs among the three positions were significant (p

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