9066
2016
eng
1
24
postprint
1
--
--
--
When High-Capacity Readers Slow Down and Low-Capacity Readers Speed Up
We examined the effects of argument-head distance in SVO and SOV languages (Spanish and German), while taking into account readers' working memory capacity and controlling for expectation (Levy, 2008) and other factors. We predicted only locality effects, that is, a slowdown produced by increased dependency distance (Gibson, 2000; Lewis and Vasishth, 2005). Furthermore, we expected stronger locality effects for readers with low working memory capacity. Contrary to our predictions, low-capacity readers showed faster reading with increased distance, while high-capacity readers showed locality effects. We suggest that while the locality effects are compatible with memory-based explanations, the speedup of low-capacity readers can be explained by an increased probability of retrieval failure. We present a computational model based on ACT-R built under the previous assumptions, which is able to give a qualitative account for the present data and can be tested in future research. Our results suggest that in some cases, interpreting longer RTs as indexing increased processing difficulty and shorter RTs as facilitation may be too simplistic: The same increase in processing difficulty may lead to slowdowns in high-capacity readers and speedups in low-capacity ones. Ignoring individual level capacity differences when investigating locality effects may lead to misleading conclusions.
Working Memory and Locality Effects
urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-90663
online registration
PA 2016_09
Universität Potsdam, Publikationsfonds
<a href="http://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9065">Bibliographieeintrag der Originalveröffentlichung/Quelle</a>
CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International
Bruno Nicenboim
Pavel Logacev
Carolina Gattei
Shravan Vasishth
Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe
288
eng
uncontrolled
locality
eng
uncontrolled
working memory capacity
eng
uncontrolled
individual differences
eng
uncontrolled
Spanish
eng
uncontrolled
German
eng
uncontrolled
ACT-R
Psychologie
open_access
Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften
Referiert
Open Access
Universität Potsdam
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/files/9066/phr_288.pdf
9065
2016
2016
eng
1
24
7
article
Frontiers Research Foundation
Lausanne
1
--
2016-03-08
--
When High-Capacity Readers Slow Down and Low-Capacity Readers Speed Up
We examined the effects of argument-head distance in SVO and SOV languages (Spanish and German), while taking into account readers' working memory capacity and controlling for expectation (Levy, 2008) and other factors. We predicted only locality effects, that is, a slowdown produced by increased dependency distance (Gibson, 2000; Lewis and Vasishth, 2005). Furthermore, we expected stronger locality effects for readers with low working memory capacity. Contrary to our predictions, low-capacity readers showed faster reading with increased distance, while high-capacity readers showed locality effects. We suggest that while the locality effects are compatible with memory-based explanations, the speedup of low-capacity readers can be explained by an increased probability of retrieval failure. We present a computational model based on ACT-R built under the previous assumptions, which is able to give a qualitative account for the present data and can be tested in future research. Our results suggest that in some cases, interpreting longer RTs as indexing increased processing difficulty and shorter RTs as facilitation may be too simplistic: The same increase in processing difficulty may lead to slowdowns in high-capacity readers and speedups in low-capacity ones. Ignoring individual level capacity differences when investigating locality effects may lead to misleading conclusions.
Frontiers in psychology
Working Memory and Locality Effects
10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00280
1664-1078
Universität Potsdam, Publikationsfonds
PA 2016_09
1531.15
online registration
280
<a href="http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-90663">Zweitveröffentlichung in der Schriftenreihe Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe ; 288</a>
CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International
Bruno Nicenboim
Pavel Logacev
Carolina Gattei
Shravan Vasishth
eng
uncontrolled
locality
eng
uncontrolled
working memory capacity
eng
uncontrolled
individual differences
eng
uncontrolled
Spanish
eng
uncontrolled
German
eng
uncontrolled
ACT-R
Psychologie
Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften
Referiert
Publikationsfonds der Universität Potsdam
Open Access
Universität Potsdam