Predicting Definite and Indefinite Referents During Discourse Comprehension: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials.

ABSTRACT: Linguistic predictions may be generated from and evaluated against a representation of events and referents described in the discourse. Compatible with this idea, recent work shows that predictions about novel noun phrases include their definiteness. In the current follow-up study, we ask whether people engage similar prediction-related processes for definite and indefinite referents. This question is relevant for linguistic theories that imply a processing difference between definite and indefinite noun phrases, typically because definiteness is thought to require a uniquely identifiable referent in the discourse. We addressed this question in an event-related potential (ERP) study (N = 48) with preregistration of data acquisition, preprocessing, and Bayesian analysis. Participants read D

SUBMITTER: Carter GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9286847 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature