TY - GEN A1 - Paape, Dario L. J. F. T1 - Filling the Silence BT - Reactivation, not Reconstruction N2 - In a self-paced reading experiment, we investigated the processing of sluicing constructions (“sluices”) whose antecedent contained a known garden-path structure in German. Results showed decreased processing times for sluices with garden-path antecedents as well as a disadvantage for antecedents with non-canonical word order downstream from the ellipsis site. A post-hoc analysis showed the garden-path advantage also to be present in the region right before the ellipsis site. While no existing account of ellipsis processing explicitly predicted the results, we argue that they are best captured by combining a local antecedent mismatch effect with memory trace reactivation through reanalysis. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 285 KW - ellipsis processing KW - garden-path effect KW - German KW - retrieval KW - reconstruction KW - self-paced reading Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-90480 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nicenboim, Bruno A1 - Vasishth, Shravan A1 - Engelmann, Felix A1 - Suckow, Katja T1 - Exploratory and confirmatory analyses in sentence processing BT - a case study of number interference in German JF - Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society N2 - Given the replication crisis in cognitive science, it is important to consider what researchers need to do in order to report results that are reliable. We consider three changes in current practice that have the potential to deliver more realistic and robust claims. First, the planned experiment should be divided into two stages, an exploratory stage and a confirmatory stage. This clear separation allows the researcher to check whether any results found in the exploratory stage are robust. The second change is to carry out adequately powered studies. We show that this is imperative if we want to obtain realistic estimates of effects in psycholinguistics. The third change is to use Bayesian data-analytic methods rather than frequentist ones; the Bayesian framework allows us to focus on the best estimates we can obtain of the effect, rather than rejecting a strawman null. As a case study, we investigate number interference effects in German. Number feature interference is predicted by cue-based retrieval models of sentence processing (Van Dyke & Lewis, 2003; Vasishth & Lewis, 2006), but it has shown inconsistent results. We show that by implementing the three changes mentioned, suggestive evidence emerges that is consistent with the predicted number interference effects. KW - Exploratory and confirmatory analyses KW - Sentence processing KW - Bayesian hierarchical modeling KW - Cue-based retrieval KW - Working memory KW - Similarity-based interference KW - Number interference KW - German Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12589 SN - 0364-0213 SN - 1551-6709 VL - 42 SP - 1075 EP - 1100 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nicenboim, Bruno A1 - Roettger, Timo B. A1 - Vasishth, Shravan T1 - Using meta-analysis for evidence synthesis BT - the case of incomplete neutralization in German JF - Journal of phonetics N2 - Within quantitative phonetics, it is common practice to draw conclusions based on statistical significance alone Using incomplete neutralization of final devoicing in German as a case study, we illustrate the problems with this approach. If researchers find a significant acoustic difference between voiceless and devoiced obstruents, they conclude that neutralization is incomplete, and if they find no significant difference, they conclude that neutralization is complete. However, such strong claims regarding the existence or absence of an effect based on significant results alone can be misleading. Instead, the totality of available evidence should be brought to bear on the question. Towards this end, we synthesize the evidence from 14 studies on incomplete neutralization in German using a Bayesian random-effects meta-analysis. Our meta-analysis provides evidence in favor of incomplete neutralization. We conclude with some suggestions for improving the quality of future research on phonetic phenomena: ensure that sample sizes allow for high-precision estimates of the effect; avoid the temptation to deploy researcher degrees of freedom when analyzing data; focus on estimates of the parameter of interest and the uncertainty about that parameter; attempt to replicate effects found; and, whenever possible, make both the data and analysis available publicly. (c) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. KW - Meta-analysis KW - Incomplete neutralization KW - Final devoicing KW - German KW - Bayesian data analysis Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2018.06.001 SN - 0095-4470 VL - 70 SP - 39 EP - 55 PB - Elsevier CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Nicenboim, Bruno A1 - Logacev, Pavel A1 - Gattei, Carolina A1 - Vasishth, Shravan T1 - When High-Capacity Readers Slow Down and Low-Capacity Readers Speed Up BT - Working Memory and Locality Effects N2 - 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. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 288 KW - locality KW - working memory capacity KW - individual differences KW - Spanish KW - German KW - ACT-R Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-90663 SP - 1 EP - 24 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nicenboim, Bruno A1 - Logacev, Pavel A1 - Gattei, Carolina A1 - Vasishth, Shravan T1 - When High-Capacity Readers Slow Down and Low-Capacity Readers Speed Up BT - Working Memory and Locality Effects JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - 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. KW - locality KW - working memory capacity KW - individual differences KW - Spanish KW - German KW - ACT-R Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00280 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 7 SP - 1 EP - 24 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Laurinavichyute, Anna A1 - Jager, Lena Ann A1 - Akinina, Yulia A1 - Roß, Jennifer A1 - Dragoy, Olga V. T1 - Retrieval and Encoding Interference: Cross-Linguistic Evidence from Anaphor Processing JF - Frontiers in psychology KW - encoding interference KW - retrieval interference KW - German KW - Russian KW - comprehension KW - reflexive processing KW - anaphor Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00965 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lago, Sol A1 - Sloggett, Shayne A1 - Schlüter, Zoe A1 - Chow, Wing Yee A1 - Williams, Alexander A1 - Lau, Ellen A1 - Phillips, Colin T1 - Coreference and Antecedent Representation Across Languages JF - Journal of experimental psychology : Learning, memory, and cognition KW - coreference KW - German KW - English KW - sentence comprehension KW - eye-tracking Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000343 SN - 0278-7393 SN - 1939-1285 VL - 43 SP - 795 EP - 817 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lago, Sol A1 - Garcia, Anna Stutter A1 - Felser, Claudia T1 - The role of native and non-native grammars in the comprehension of possessive pronouns JF - Second language research N2 - Previous studies have shown that multilingual speakers are influenced by their native (L1) and non-native (L2) grammars when learning a new language. But, so far, these studies have mostly used untimed metalinguistic tasks. Here we examine whether multilinguals’ prior grammars also affect their sensitivity to morphosyntactic constraints during processing. We use speeded judgment and self-paced reading tasks to examine the comprehension of German possessive pronouns. To investigate whether native and non-native grammars differentially affect participants’ performance, we compare two groups of non-native German speakers with inverse L1–L2 distributions: a group with L1 Spanish – L2 English, and a group with L1 English – L2 Spanish. We show that the reading profiles of both groups are modulated by their L1 grammar, with L2 proficiency selectively affecting participants’ judgment accuracy but not their reading times. We propose that reading comprehension is mainly influenced by multilinguals’ native grammar, but that knowledge of an L2 grammar can further increase sensitivity to morphosyntactic violations in an additional language. KW - comprehension KW - English KW - gender agreement KW - German KW - multilingualism KW - Spanish Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658318770491 SN - 0267-6583 SN - 1477-0326 VL - 35 IS - 3 SP - 319 EP - 349 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lago Huvelle, Maria Sol A1 - Felser, Claudia T1 - Agreement attraction in native and nonnative speakers of German JF - Applied psycholinguistics : psychological and linguistic studies across languages and learners N2 - Second language speakers often struggle to apply grammatical constraints such as subject-verb agreement. One hypothesis for this difficulty is that it results from problems suppressing syntactically unlicensed constituents in working memory. We investigated which properties of these constituents make them more likely to elicit errors: their grammatical distance to the subject head or their linear distance to the verb. We used double modifier constructions (e.g., the smell of the stables of the farmers), where the errors of native speakers are modulated by the linguistic relationships between the nouns in the subject phrase: second plural nouns, which are syntactically and semantically closer to the subject head, elicit more errors than third plural nouns, which are linearly closer to the verb (2nd-3rd-noun asymmetry). In order to dissociate between grammatical and linear distance, we compared embedded and coordinated modifiers, which were linearly identical but differed in grammatical distance. Using an attraction paradigm, we showed that German native speakers and proficient Russian speakers of German exhibited similar attraction rates and that their errors displayed a 2nd-3rd-noun asymmetry, which was more pronounced in embedded than in coordinated constructions. We suggest that both native and second language learners prioritize linguistic structure over linear distance in their agreement computations. KW - agreement attraction KW - German KW - linear distance KW - Russian Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716417000601 SN - 0142-7164 SN - 1469-1817 VL - 39 IS - 3 SP - 619 EP - 647 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klassert, Annegret A1 - Bormann, Sarah A1 - Festman, Julia A1 - Gerth, Sabrina T1 - Primary School Children’s Spelling of Consonant Clusters and Morphological Awareness T1 - Rechtschreibung von Konsonantenclustern und morphologische Bewusstheit bei Grundschüler_innen JF - Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und pädagogische Psychologie N2 - Die vorliegenden Studien untersuchen die Entwicklung der Rechtschreibfähigkeit für finale Konsonantencluster im Deutschen und die ihr zugrundeliegenden Strategien bei Erst- bis Drittklässler_innen (N = 209). Dazu wurde der Einfluss der morphologischen Komplexität (poly- vs. monomorphematische Cluster) auf die Rechtschreibung qualitativ und quantitativ analysiert, sowie mit einer Messung zur morphologischen Bewusstheit korreliert. Von der ersten Klasse an zeigt sich eine hohe Korrektheit in der Schreibung und somit eine sprachspezifisch schnelle Entwicklung der alphabetischen Rechtschreibstrategie für finale Konsonantencluster. Der Einfluss morphologischer Verarbeitungsprozesse wurde allerdings erst für die Drittklässler_innen gefunden. Obwohl bereits die Erstklässler_innen gut entwickelte morphologische Bewusstheit zeigten, scheinen sie noch nicht in der Lage zu sein, diese bei der Rechtschreibung anzuwenden. Die Ergebnisse werden im Kontrast zu den umfangreicher vorliegenden Befunden für die englische Sprache diskutiert. N2 - The present studies investigate the development of the ability to spelt final consonant clusters in German and its underlying strategies in first- to third-graders (N = 209). In these studies, the influence of morphological complexity (poly- vs. monomorphemic clusters) was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively, and correlated with a measure of morphological awareness. From the first grade onwards, we found a high spelling accuracy and therefore a language-specific early development of the alphabetic spelling strategy for final consonant clusters. However, the influence of morphological processing mechanisms was only found for third graders. Although even first graders showed a well-developed morphological awareness, they did not seem to be able to use it during spelling. The results are discussed in contrast to extensive previous research in English. KW - spelling KW - final consonant clusters KW - morphological awareness KW - German KW - Rechtsschreibung KW - finale Konsonantencluster KW - morphologische Bewusstheit KW - Deutsch Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1026/0049-8637/a000193 SN - 0049-8637 SN - 2190-6262 VL - 50 IS - 3 SP - 115 EP - 125 PB - Hogrefe CY - Göttingen ER -